GME Holds Gains as Options Traders Stay Bullish

GameStop is doing something unusual for a meme stock: it is consolidating well above its recent base without squeeze mechanics, short sellers, or Wall Street support to hold it there.

The week's most striking data point is in options. Sentiment has reached its most bullish level in a year. The put/call ratio dropped to 0.252 on September 18 — nearly two standard deviations below the 20-day mean of 0.271, and within a whisker of the 52-week low of 0.2426. That is an options market pricing almost no downside protection. Calls are dominating at an extreme rarely seen in this name's recent history. The reading is consistent with last week's note, which flagged bullish options momentum building on the back of the Q2 earnings beat — but it has pushed further since.

Short interest no longer tells a meaningful directional story. The float short is now 0.92%, roughly 4.1 million shares, and has been flat near that level all week after the 93% collapse from August highs. Borrow costs confirm there is no tension in the lending market: the rate is 0.41%, less than half of where it was a month ago, and availability is loose at 217%. This is not a stock where short-side pressure matters right now. The squeeze completed, the mechanics wound down, and the stock is holding near $22.64 — up 7% on the week and 26% over the past month — without any mechanical bid from covering shorts.

What matters from here is the fundamental and ownership picture. Ryan Cohen's $20.4 million open-market purchase on September 10, at $20.38 a share and without a 10b5-1 plan, was the dominant event of the prior week. That discretionary conviction buy is now being tested: the stock has rallied from $20.38 to $22.64, a gain of roughly 11% since Cohen pulled the trigger. His Schedule 13D filing, last updated September 10, confirms he now holds 8.5% of shares outstanding — up from 8.3% — a growing activist stake, not a passive one. As the disclosure note carries: 13D/G positions are event-driven filings around the 5% threshold, and positions can change without immediate notice. But for now, the direction of travel is unambiguous.

The Street offers little pushback and no new voices. Analyst coverage remains effectively a one-firm show: Wedbush's Michael Pachter has maintained an Underperform rating with a $13.50 target, last reiterated in June 2025 — more than a year ago. At $22.64, the stock is trading 68% above that target, which should be treated as stale context rather than live guidance. No other firm has published a rating in the data available. The ORTEX short score has settled near 40, down sharply from 68 to 69 range registered during the peak short interest window of early September. That compression reflects the short unwind, not any fundamental re-rating. Factor scores are modest across the board: a days-to-cover rank of 7 and utilization rank of 21 both confirm the borrow market is loose and short-side positioning is minimal.

The earnings calendar is the next hard catalyst. Q3 results are not due until December 8, leaving nearly three months of price action driven by sentiment, momentum, and the residual conviction of buyers who stepped in at lower levels. The key question going into that print is whether the collectibles segment — which drove the Q2 beat with 54.6% year-on-year revenue growth — can sustain that pace, or whether the Q2 numbers represented a one-time surge. Until then, what to watch is whether the options put/call ratio begins to recover toward its mean as the stock settles, or stays suppressed — the latter would suggest retail conviction is holding at elevated levels into year-end.