Bitcoin is sinking, but retail investors have found a different target. Shares in fast-food chain Wendy’s surged nearly 26% on Wednesday after Reddit’s r/WallStreetBets forum decided the chain needs “saving.”
A post titled “We need to save Wendy’s” racked up over 18,000 upvotes on the investing forum famous for starting the GameStop meme stock saga. The stock, which sank as low as $6.08 earlier in the week, closed at $7.86 — a more than 25% daily increase. At one point shares hit $8.89 during Wednesday trading and kept climbing in after-hours.
Trading volume exploded. Over 203 million shares changed hands before market close. The stock normally averages under 10 million shares a day — that’s a 1,970% spike. The ticker hit the #1 trending spot on StockTwits, the financial social media platform that tracks sentiment around assets.
Even with Wednesday’s pump, Wendy’s shares are still down 36% over the past year and 66% over five years. Redditors posted screenshots of share purchases and long options trades, making familiar arguments about a stock that’s been beaten down too far.
Predictably, crypto traders piled in. A meme coin version of the stock (WEN), created on Solana token launchpad Pump.fun and completely unaffiliated with The Wendy’s Company, rocketed to a $439,000 market cap in 24 hours — a 1,450% gain. A pinned comment on the popular Reddit post promoted the token.
The forum has done this before — AMC, Blackberry, and Bed Bath & Beyond all got the meme stock treatment in previous cycles.
