Small investors behind surge in GameStop and other shares hit by restrictions

An army of retail investors that has routed Wall Street’s professionals in recent days was dealt a blow on Thursday, after online brokerages restricted purchases of red-hot GameStop and other stocks that had soared this week.

But the shares rebounded in after hours trading, resuming their advances after Robinhood Markets Inc and Interactive Brokers said they planned to lift the restrictions on Friday.

Retail investors, celebrities and policymakers had denounced Thursday’s restrictions and participants in online forums seethed, accusing the trading platforms of seeking to protect Wall Street’s interests at the expense of smaller investors.

“Robin Hood: a parable about stealing from the rich to give to the poor. Robinhood: an app about protecting the rich from being short squeezed by the poor,” Jake Chervinsky, a lawyer for fintech company Compound, wrote on Twitter.

Robinhood reversed course by the end of the day and said limited buying in the stocks would resume on Friday. Shares of retail favorites including GameStop and AMC Entertainment, which erased an early surge on news of the restrictions then rose after hours.