GameStop up another 60%, amateur interest shows no sign of abating

GameStop shares surged another 60% on Wednesday in pre-market trading, boosted by increased interest among amateur investors who have lifted the share price by 700% over the past two weeks.

GameStop shares surged another 60% on Wednesday in pre-market trading, boosted by increased interest among amateur investors who have lifted the share price by 700% over the past two weeks. But some hedge funds have refused to budge from their bearish bets, with FIS' Analytics data showing investors had piled on $2.2 billion in bearish bets on the U.S. video game retailer -- a whopping 20% of its market capitalisation,

In the meantime, Reddit's Wallstreetbets stock trading discussion group were backing the company, buying shares and call options on the stock. A similar euphoria has boosted BlackBerry and Nokia .

Meanwhile in Europe, shares of Evotec and Varta jumped on a chatter that Melvin Capital Management was being forced to unwind its short positions to cover losses on its other bearish bets, including GameStop.