TLDR: Massive institutions shorted it REAL hard, meaning they have to buy ~$1B worth of it on Friday. Wallstreetbets decided they should buy a boatload of it and pushed the price way up, both as a way to make a lot of money and to screw over the hedge funds. Other people saw it skyrocket and wanted to get in on it. Other hedge funds who shorted it only a bit are buying stock to cancel out their shorts, pushing the price even higher. Nasdaq, robinhood, etc are all limiting transactions now because they're spooked. If you haven't been in for several days already I advise not touching it because chaos is coming for it this weekend.
TLDR: Massive institutions shorted it REAL hard, meaning they have to buy ~$1B worth of it on Friday. Wallstreetbets decided they should buy a boatload of it and pushed the price way up, both as a way to make a lot of money and to screw over the hedge funds. Other people saw it skyrocket and wanted to get in on it. Other hedge funds who shorted it only a bit are buying stock to cancel out their shorts, pushing the price even higher. Nasdaq, robinhood, etc are all limiting transactions now because they're spooked. If you haven't been in for several days already I advise not touching it because chaos is coming for it this weekend.
Friday is not a cutoff, that is a myth being pushed around
Their shorts were contracted for the last friday of the month. If you have a source that says otherwise please link.
https://old.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/l5ws97/friday_12921_gme_expiry_date_means_nothing_dont/