Since President Trump’s “Liberation Day” on April 2nd, retail traders took it as an opportunity to fill up their stock portfolios. As tariffs caused business valuation uncertainty and stock market turmoil, the (SPX) index went down 3.5% over a month.
Within the first week of that drop, retail traders put $8.8 billion capital on the discounted line, according to Vanda (NASDAQ:) Research. But now that SPX is up nearly 9% over a week, following tariff rollbacks, which stocks did insiders pick?
While regular traders expect market rallies based on historical trends, insiders have more involved insight into their companies. This is why it is important to keep track of insiders’ stock buying sprees over the last week.
1. GameStop Corp.
Last week, GameStop Corp (NYSE:)’s Lead Independent Director Alain Attal bought GME 10,000 shares at $25.75 per share, boosting his GME holdings to 572,464 shares. At press time, GME stock is hovering around $26.39, having gone down 13.9% year-to-date.
Notoriously volatile, GME shares hit a 52-week high of $64.83, settling on the average price of $24.23 per share. However, that volatility may be tampered in the future, in a way that makes GME shareholders happy.
Namely, the company announced a new investment policy on March 25th to add as a treasury reserve asset. During the market turmoil, Bitcoin has shown remarkable resilience, owing to its lack of earnings, having decentralized scarcity and serving as a hedge against fiat currency devaluation.
Without structural and regulatory weaknesses in 2025, following the ousting of Gary Gensler and Operation Choke Point 2.0, Bitcoin even managed to break correlation with stocks in early April.
Source: Bloomberg
Through the previous bouts of stock volatility, GameStop managed to accrue $4.76 billion in cash and cash equivalents as of February 2025. By securing a large stake in an appreciating asset like Bitcoin, acting as digital gold, GameStop enters the playing field of exceedingly successful MicroStrategy.
And just the fact that this gambit is now officially on the table is likely to further boost GME inflows, having been historically the primary meme stock since January 2021.
2. Hallador Energy Company
Hallador Energy Company (NASDAQ:), a key coal supplier to electric utilities, has seen its stock rise around 16% year-to-date. The primary catalyst? President Trump’s April 8th executive order, which aims to cut bureaucratic red tape and unlock America’s vast coal reserves. The order’s branding of the industry as ‘beautiful clean coal’ speaks volumes.
Hallador director Gray Zarrell Thomas bought 9,000 HNRG shares in the aftermath, priced at $13.6 against the present price of $13.34 per share. Hallador’s all-time stock price was $15.62 in October 2023, while the average HNRG price over a 52-week period is $9.24 per share.
Meanwhile, Energy Secretary Chris Wright has allocated $200 billion in financing to advance coal technologies and extraction. As Europe’s net-zero policies cripple industrial competitiveness, the U.S. is poised to strengthen its economic resilience – with Hallador Energy positioned to benefit from this paradigm shift.
3. Rocket Pharmaceuticals
Rocket Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:) is a biotech firm utilizing AI to develop gene therapies for blood and heart disorders. Recently, the company’s CEO Gaurav Shah bought 20,000 RCKT shares at $5.08, alongside Rocket’s Chief Operating Officer Patel Kinnari who bought 21,100 shares at $4.7 per share.
RCKT stock is presently priced at $6.04, having suffered over a 50% YTD decline. In March 2021, RCKT had its all-time high price of $34.95, while the 52-week average price is $14.78 per share.
In February, the company reported its Q4 2024 earnings, showing a strong cash position of $372.3 million. During 2024, Rocket spent $171.2 million on R&D and $102 million on admin, delivering a total net loss of $258.7 million. In November’s investor presentation, the company emphasized RP-A501 Phase I study, having shown progress on treating Danon disease.
In conjunction with RP-L102 Phase II for Fanconi Anemia, potential news of breakthroughs and regulatory approvals could break the stock’s losing streak.
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Neither the author, Tim Fries, nor this website, The Tokenist, provide financial advice. Please consult our website policy prior to making financial decisions.
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