Wendy's was already the subject of retail traders' favorite memes. Now they're hoping it'll be their new favorite meme stock.
The fast food chain suddenly exploded on Wednesday, surging by as much as 37% before closing out the day a gain of more than 25%. Trading volume soared to 202 million shares compared to the daily average of about almost 10 million.
For retail traders, all of this means just one thing: a short squeeze is brewing.
"You are looking at a classic combo," one trader wrote on Reddit. "Institutional short sellers getting caught off guard by fundamental turnaround news, and retail communities immediately weaponizing that high short interest to force a squeeze."
Data from MarketBeat shows that roughly 32% of Wendy's stock is being sold short right now.
Retail traders pointed to some corporate news they took as bullish for the company. The burger chain announced the hiring of two new leaders, CEO Bob Wright and CFO Steve Cirulis, both of whom helped lead popular sandwich chain Potbelly Corp.
But retail traders seem more focused on the potential for a short squeeze in they stock, highlighting the short interest and company's volatile year.
"I bought thanks to a WSB post," another Reddit user said on the popular WallStreetBets trading forum. "I'm not kidding. But I also actually did some checking and think it is undervalued. I don't expect this to pop, but I'm wanting it to go up slowly over the next year."
One WallStreetBets user shared a post comparing it to GameStop and AMC Entertainment, often seen as the OGs of the meme stock movement. The GameStop short squeeze of 2021 is often credited with sparking the rise of the retail trader movement that has reshaped the market in the last five years.
But other traders aren't so sure that Wendy's stock is destined for greatness, highlighting the Beyond Meat short squeeze of October 2025 that whipsawed investors as the stock rapidly surged by triple digits before quickly plunging again.
"Look at the push for Beyond Meat," another trader noted. "That did not end well."
Another Reddit user echoed that sentiment. "This is a continuation of the meme stock rerun," they said. "We've seen most of the tickers that ran in 2021 get astroturfed in WSB and run shortly afterwards."
