Roundhill Investments has reintroduced its meme-themed exchange-traded fund, the Roundhill MEME ETF, marking a comeback for one of the most talked-about speculative products of recent years. The fund, trading under the ticker MEME, seeks to capitalize on renewed retail enthusiasm for highly volatile, social-media-driven equities. It was originally launched in 2021, at the height of the meme stock craze, but was shut down in 2023 after investor appetite waned.
Fund Revival and Investment Focus
Roundhill’s CEO Dave Mazza described the relaunch as a “timely response to resurging interest in retail trading,” emphasizing that this new version of MEME offers more active management and frequent rebalancing. The fund will now select 13 to 25 stocks from the 200 most actively traded U.S. equities, using factors such as social media engagement and implied volatility, with adjustments potentially occurring weekly.
Mazza said the fund aims to provide “structured exposure to one of the market’s most unique phenomena—stocks that move based on crowd psychology rather than traditional fundamentals.”
GameStop Legacy and Retail Investor Influence
The GameStop saga of early 2021 remains a defining moment in the evolution of meme investing. Shares of GameStop (GME) skyrocketed more than 1,500 % in a matter of weeks after a swarm of retail investors coordinated via Reddit’s r/WallStreetBets forum to challenge institutional short sellers. The event exposed a growing power shift in financial markets, where online communities could drive immense market movements, often at the expense of hedge funds.
That frenzy also inspired a range of copycat surges in other companies such as AMC Entertainment, BlackBerry, and Bed Bath & Beyond, cementing “meme stock” as a fixture of financial vocabulary. Roundhill’s first iteration of the MEME ETF emerged in that same climate, aggregating these popular names into a single basket. Although interest later faded, the phenomenon never entirely disappeared—and its revival in 2025 prompted Roundhill to bring the concept back in an updated, risk-controlled format.
Current Holdings and Market Activity
According to filings and trading data, the newly relaunched MEME ETF has seen immediate traction, with roughly 9 million USD in first-day trading volume. Its largest position is Opendoor Technologies (OPEN), which has experienced dramatic price swings in recent months, jumping from below 1 USD earlier this year to highs near 9 USD amid renewed online hype and hedge-fund interest, including backing from Eric Jackson.
Other major holdings include Plug Power, a hydrogen-fuel-cell producer, and Applied Digital, which operates data centers. The fund’s composition is expected to evolve quickly as trading sentiment shifts, reflecting Roundhill’s emphasis on flexibility and responsiveness.
Roundhill says its quantitative model blends social media analytics, trading volume, and price momentum to identify the most active retail-driven names. That methodology could mean periodic re-entries into stocks like GameStop and AMC should renewed chatter elevate their trading activity.
Risks, Oversight, and Market Implications
Roundhill emphasizes that the MEME ETF is not for the faint-hearted. Its portfolio is intentionally volatile and subject to rapid swings, often detached from underlying earnings or valuation metrics. To manage risk, the company has implemented position limits, liquidity thresholds, and stop-loss mechanisms to protect investors during sudden sentiment reversals.
Market analysts remain divided. Some praise the MEME ETF’s structured approach as a way to institutionalize an unpredictable trend, while others warn it could amplify speculative bubbles. Regulatory authorities have previously raised concerns over meme-driven trading, especially regarding potential manipulation and the use of leverage by retail traders.
Nonetheless, supporters argue that funds like MEME represent a pragmatic evolution of market dynamics. As social media continues to shape investor behavior, professional asset managers are increasingly seeking ways to quantify and integrate crowd sentiment into formal investment strategies.
Whether the current enthusiasm will sustain itself remains uncertain. But the re-emergence of MEME—and the enduring legacy of GameStop’s 2021 short squeeze, highlight how deeply intertwined digital culture and financial markets have become.