how did short covering contribute to the gamestop short squeeze 
retail traders noticed a high level of short interest in gamestop and worked together through reddit trading group wallstreetbets to coordinate frenzied buying in the company s shares and options the increased sudden buying pressure forced several hedge funds who had bet against the videogame retailer to promptly cover their large short positions at a significant loss creating a short squeeze in the stock the short squeeze was exacerbated by several funds shorting more shares than the available float of shares in the market making it difficult to cover all their short positions 