AMC’s stock gets stuck in a short squeeze. The shares were up 180%.

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AMC Entertainment Holdings

is trading at a new 52-week high on Wednesday, seized by a strange euphoria that affects several stocks of depressed companies.

The actions (ticker:

AMC

), one of the worst performances of the past year, jumped up to 300% in morning trading and was interrupted several times due to extreme volatility.

AMC’s shares have recovered by 611%, despite multiple dilutive share sales by the company in recent months. The turnover is over 54 million shares, according to FactSet. Almost 40 million shares are sold short.

AMC is currently trading up about 180% to about $ 14. The shares were up 105% last year, compared to the 15.8% gain on the S&P 500.

But AMC spent much of last year in crisis. The pandemic forced the biggest cinema operator to close locations or restrict occupation, killing box office sales. Other movie theaters have faced the same problems.

The stock joins a small group of companies that have been caught in a strange push between professional short sellers, who hold down positions, and retail investors using Reddit forums and Robinhood accounts to buy and encourage others to do so .

The biggest example, of course, is

GameStop

(GME), the video game retailer whose shares soared above $ 350.

Bed Bath & Beyond

(BBBY), up to 30% on Wednesday,

Blackberry

(BB), an increase of 15% and

Etsy

(ETSY), which decreased by 3%.

The increase in trading disturbed several online brokers on Wednesday, according to MarketWatch.

AMC has been raising money to protect it until the pandemic passes and viewers return to cinemas in record numbers they recently reached in 2019. This week, the company’s CEO, Adam Aron, said in a statement that with $ 917 million raised since mid-December, bankruptcy was off the table.

It was being considered in recent months whether the company would be able to raise enough money to survive.

The fact that AMC is selling shares to raise capital could make the high price of its shares easier to bear, said B. Riley analyst Eric Wold.

“Although the recent movement in AMC’s shares has been extraordinary, we remain optimistic about the domestic box office outlook after the pandemic and we believe that the management’s success in securing sufficient capital to avoid short-term bankruptcy was clearly positive for investors,” Wold said Barron’s in an email. “And as AMC continues to strengthen its capital and liquidity structure, we imagine that the movement of shares is welcome to the company.”

An AMC spokesman was not immediately available.