--- title: "How long can the MEME rally in US stocks last?" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/298218602.md" description: "AMC's CEO threatened legal action after its stock surged over 20% due to tokenization and meme coin pairing on Robinhood. This incident highlights how cryptocurrency-backed trading is eroding traditional institutional pricing power, allowing retail investors to manipulate stock prices via high-leverage crypto tools. While this trend empowers retail traders, it raises regulatory concerns regarding the legality of Real World Asset (RWA) tokenization. The author predicts continued volatility and potential regulatory intervention, noting that centralized institutions still hold ultimate control over stock tokens." datetime: "2026-09-07T13:44:08.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/298218602.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/298218602.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/298218602.md) generator: "portal-rs" --- # How long can the MEME rally in US stocks last? Last Thursday's article shared a trend of users squeezing short sellers on Wall Street through cryptocurrency-stock trading platforms. On Friday, a message appeared online: The CEO of the listed company AMC expressed dissatisfaction and anger regarding cryptocurrency-stock trading online and threatened to hire lawyers to investigate. In response, the CEO of Robinhood responded on Twitter. The incident stemmed from AMC's stock being tokenized on Robinhood and paired with another meme coin. The popularity of this meme coin trading consequently impacted AMC's stock price, causing it to surge by over 20% before the US stock market opened. The AMC CEO's anger reflects a growing trend: cryptocurrency-backed stock trading has begun to have a significant impact on real-market US stock prices, and this impact signifies that the traditional forces holding pricing power in the secondary market are being eroded and weakened. As of this writing, AMC's market capitalization is approximately $2.2-2.3 billion. Its market capitalization ranks in the top 25%-30% of the more than 6,000 companies listed on the US stock market (including NYSE, NASDAQ, and AMEX). This market capitalization is not small when considered within the broader context of the US stock market. There are over 4,000 listed companies with market capitalizations smaller than its own. Even a company with this market capitalization is affected in this way; one can imagine how the stock prices of companies with smaller market capitalizations would fluctuate if they were also paired with meme coins for trading. As I shared in my article last Thursday, those small-cap companies are hotspots for short sellers. No wonder some people have already set their sights on those targets, preparing to profit from short sellers on cryptocurrency trading platforms. Furthermore, compared to traditional trading markets, the leverage effect of derivatives tools offered by the crypto ecosystem is much more exaggerated. Therefore, it is easier to operate in the crypto ecosystem using a "high-risk, high-reward" approach. With real-world examples like AMC, platforms like cryptocurrency-stock trading, and exaggerated leverage tools, the conditions for manipulation are all in place. We will likely see more cases like AMC, or even more outrageous ones. For stock trading, the pricing power in the secondary market has always been in the hands of traditional institutions—the phrase "turning their hands to make clouds, turning them back to make rain" perfectly describes their price monopoly. But now, decentralized cryptocurrency-stock trading platforms are also beginning to influence real stock prices, and this price monopoly is starting to waver—regardless of whether the logic and emotions of retail investors in cryptocurrency-stock trading are rational, it is undeniable that retail investors have generated an influence that was previously unimaginable, and are beginning to have the ability to challenge traditional giants in pricing power. From this perspective, this scenario perfectly embodies the free, unrestrained, code-centric, and authority-insensitive nature of the crypto ecosystem. However, the AMC CEO's threat to sue in this case has rekindled my long-standing concern about a hidden risk in RWA: Regardless of the investigation's outcome, it highlights the biggest weakness in this scenario: the core value and operation of stock tokens ultimately remain in the hands of centralized institutions. If the SEC determines that the tokenization of AMC stock on Robinhood is illegal, then all previous and subsequent transactions surrounding AMC stock tokens will be invalid. Even if the SEC determines that such behavior on Robinhood is legal, I estimate that regulators are unlikely to let it run rampant. They will likely impose restrictions or raise barriers to such behavior or trading of these assets. RWA can never be as free and unrestrained as purely native on-chain assets. However, I estimate that even if regulators formally intervene and investigate, it won't be so quick. Therefore, we will continue to see this frenzy and "feast" for some time to come. ### Related Stocks - [ETHE.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/ETHE.US.md) - [AMC.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/AMC.US.md) - [HOOX.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/HOOX.US.md) - [FETH.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/FETH.US.md) - [ETH.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/ETH.US.md) - [HOOD.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/HOOD.US.md) - [HODU.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/HODU.US.md) - [HOOG.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/HOOG.US.md) - [HOOI.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/HOOI.US.md) - [HOOW.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/HOOW.US.md) - [HOOY.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/HOOY.US.md) - [HOOZ.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/HOOZ.US.md) - [HOYY.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/HOYY.US.md) - [ROBN.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/ROBN.US.md) - [ETHT.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/ETHT.US.md) - [ETHU.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/ETHU.US.md) - [ETU.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/ETU.US.md) - [ETHD.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/ETHD.US.md) - [ETQ.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/ETQ.US.md) - [SETH.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SETH.US.md) - [YETH.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/YETH.US.md) ## Related News & Research - [Robinhood's Offshore AMC Token Setup Is 'Shocking and Shameful,' AMC CEO Says](https://longbridge.com/en/news/298063928.md) - [Limited partners (LPs) on Robinhood Chain are also starting to "make money".](https://longbridge.com/en/news/297783913.md) - [Backpack: $AMC Tokenized AMC Shares Launch on Solana - 04 Sep 2026](https://longbridge.com/en/news/298062618.md) - [Uniswap’s Robinhood Chain boom fuels $1M in daily UNI burns](https://longbridge.com/en/news/298121972.md) - [Robinhood's stock is on the blockchain, and Uniswap is reaping the benefits.](https://longbridge.com/en/news/297497717.md) --- > **Disclaimer: This article is for reference only and does not constitute any investment advice.**