GameStop short squeeze

A Gamestop short squeeze is when lots of people buy stock in a company (this is called going long) at the same time. This puts a lot of pressure on the stock and means that the price starts to go up very quickly. This makes it difficult for people who had previously borrowed the stock (this is called going short) and then hoped to sell it at a lower price than they paid to buy it. When the price goes up suddenly, the people who borrowed the stock (who are called short sellers) have to buy it back quickly to avoid losing money. This is called a short squeeze.