Five years after GameStop mania, retail investors are reshaping markets

Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images Five years after a band of online traders sent GameStop skyrocketing and upended Wall Street’s assumptions about “dumb money,” the influence of retail investors has proven more durable and long-lasting than many expected. What began as a dramatic short squeeze in early 2021 has evolved into a persistent force in equity markets, reshaping trading dynamics, pushing hedge funds to adapt and providing a steady source of dip-buying flows of cash that helped underpin one of the longest bull markets on record. “Retail investors were always signals to me,” said Tom Lee, head of…