We’re officially at the point of the bull market that we’re getting an ETF dedicated solely to meme stock debauchery.
But the Roundhill Meme Stock ETF (featuring the apt ticker MEME) isn’t a brand-new product—it’s a previously shuttered ETF that’s being revived from the dead.
Roundhill Investments, the issuer of the fund, announced that MEME is returning to the market today, two years after it shut down in 2023 due to lack of interest and lack of funds (with only $3 million in assets when it shuttered).
While the last iteration of the fund tracked a passive index, this version will be actively managed and be rebalanced at least once a week. Fund managers will rotate stocks based on what names are gathering momentum, focusing on both price volatility and internet sentiment in an attempt to stay ahead of the meme stock curve. The fund’s largest holdings right now are Opendoor Technologies, Plug Power, and Applied Digital.
"Meme stocks started as a rebellion but have grown into a revolution," said Roundhill Investments CEO Dave Mazza in a statement. "From GameStop to AMC and beyond, retail investors have proven that they are here to stay as a permanent force in the market.”
A sign of the hype cycle times
The original meme mania peaked back in 2021, when everyone was holed up during the pandemic watching Tiger King. But when the cogs of the real world began to turn once again, retail trading hype died down. By 2023, it felt like the chaos of GameStop was a brief craze of the distant past.
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But now, we’re in the midst of a retail investor renaissance. A deregulatory environment, a seemingly unstoppable bull market, and crypto’s acceptance into mainstream finance have all combined to give retail traders confidence, helping meme stocks flourish once again.
Meanwhile, the $13 trillion ETF market has become a proving ground of risky, unconventional investment strategies packaged as easy-to-trade funds, such as spot bitcoin ETFs, leveraged single-stock funds, and specialized options funds. It makes a certain sense that the next phase of meme trading would take place in ETF land.
But unlike during the OG meme craze, these days we’ve got meme trading on steroids. The post-Liberation Day rally has fueled an all-out trading frenzy for retail investors, while prediction markets and sports betting are going mainstream, fueling the gamification of everything, including the stock market.
That begs the question: Will even MEME be crazy enough for today’s retail traders?—LB