Robinhood, Interactive Brokers clamp down on GameStop, other high-flying stocks

Robinhood also restricted trading in shares of Nokia Oyj, which climbed 20% over the past three days.

Robinhood Markets and Interactive Brokers Group Inc. took steps Thursday to curtail trading in several high-flying stocks, including GameStop Corp. and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc.

Robinhood also restricted trading in shares of Nokia Oyj, which climbed 20% over the past three days. (Bloomberg)

Robinhood restricted transactions on those stocks and others, according to a blog post. Interactive Brokers said it wouldn’t allow clients to take new options positions in names incuding AMC, GameStop and BlackBerry Ltd.

“In addition, long stock positions will require 100% margin and short stock positions will require 300% margin until further notice,” Interactive Brokers said in a statement.

Robinhood also restricted trading in shares of Nokia Oyj, which climbed 20% over the past three days.

“We’re committed to helping our customers navigate this uncertainty,” Robinhood said in the blog post.

Reddit users helped fuel a blistering rally in GameStop, the video game retailer, burning short sellers and hedge funds. The stock, which ended the year at $18.84 a share, posted whopping gains, climbing as high $513.12 in early trading Thursday. The stock rose 2.7% to $357.02 at 9:45 a.m. in New York.

The episode pitted enthusiastic amateurs against professional traders, resulting in billions of dollars of losses for hedge funds that were forced to close out their positions.