Retail investors are fueling a new meme-stock mania, driving 6 million daily options contracts in unprofitable small-cap stocks while most of the market barely participates. Fund managers are running almost no cash.
Appetite for risk is incredibly strong: Options trading volumes in loss-making Russell 2000 stocks have risen to ~6 million contracts per day, an all-time high. Volumes have more than doubled since April and surpassed the previous record set during the 2021 meme-stock mania. By comparison, options activity in profitable stocks is only 33% as large. …