As GameStop dives in, the brief print from Volkswagen 2008 gives an idea of ​​how painful it is going to be

Volkswagen often comes to mind when investors are trying to come up with a brief print on par with GameStop’s staggering surge over the past week.

In October 2008, the German automaker was able to more than quadruple its shares listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange within two days and briefly became the largest company in the world.

The rally was initially triggered by a surprise announcement that Porsche had increased its stake in VW, which pushed a number of short-sale hedge funds to exit.

Last week, the stationary video game retailer in the wild was up 400% as a group of retailers coordinating on Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum boosted its share price by benefiting from increased short interest in the name.

After the GameStop mania ends, will the stock follow Volkswagen’s path on the way down?

After Volkswagen’s peak on October 28, 2008, shares fell 58% in four days, and a month later, shares fell 70% from their high, which, according to FactSet, returned most of the pressure.

So far, GameStop’s stock fell 30.8% to $ 225 apiece on Monday after closing at $ 325 on Friday. Stocks fell another 40% on the Tuesday before trading, which should bring the two-day losses to over 50%.

“The classic pattern of past bottlenecks is a rapid rise and a rapid fall,” said Lindsey Bell, chief investment strategist at Ally Invest. “Squeezed stocks can move violently for no reason, and the tide can turn quickly. And when the pressures stop, everyone tries to sell at the same time.”

The brief interest in GameStop as a percentage of stocks available for trading went from over 110% a week ago to around 53%, according to S3 Partners. So fewer short bets have to be made to fuel the squeeze further. Trading volume also fell sharply on Monday as retail momentum slowed.

“Both fundamental and momentum short sellers have found opportunities and exit points to reduce their positions in the face of these losses as the GME short squeeze is in full effect,” said Ihor Dusaniwsky, S3 managing director for predictive analytics.

Short sellers borrow shares of a stock at a certain price in the expectation that the market value will drop below that level when it is time to pay off the borrowed shares.

However, when the stock bounces up sharply, short sellers are forced to buy back shares to limit their losses, resulting in what is known as a short squeeze.

“All bruises like this end the same way, as stock often returns to where it started its flight,” said Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group.

Eventually, at the end of the speculative mania, stock prices should drop to levels that reflect the health and fundamentals of the company. The jury is not yet sure if GameStop can revive its difficult business of video games in shopping malls in the age of streaming and internet.

“Can GameStop adjust its business model to enable streaming games? Can they close some of their stores for more positive cash flow? These are all questions we are waiting for,” said John Davi, founder and CIO of Astoria Portfolio Advisors .

Netflix is ​​a great reminder that if you believe a company has an outdated business model, things can quickly change again, Davi said. Netflix, once a DVD-by-mail service, has grown to become one of the largest streaming companies in the world.