A candid phone photograph on the open top level of a parking garage on a cold January night. A green firework — the saturated green of an old computer terminal — bursts huge against the black sky while one more shell climbs beneath it, a thin bright streak not yet burst. A loose crowd in winter coats and knit hats stands among the parked cars with phones raised and filming, every car roof and upturned face washed in the green light, sodium lamps burning orange at the deck's edges. In the middle distance, seen from behind, a clown in an off-the-rack grey suit stands alone between the cars — lavender side-parted wig, a modest white ruffle at his collar, head tilted back watching the burst, his hands together in front of him. Nobody in the crowd looks at him.

The uprising

S&P 500 3,750.77 · −98.85 · −2.57%

For one session the direction of Wall Street ran backward — retail squeezed the professionals, the index bled for it, and every screen in America glowed the same shade of green.

The photograph Retail Under the Fireworks

The day's protagonist

GameStop GME

Move: +134.84% — 147.98 → 347.51

A dying mall retailer whose short interest had been reported near 140% of its float became the crowd's one perfect trade: buy what they're short, and don't sell. r/wallstreetbets — its membership exploding by millions that week — bid the stock from 147.98 to 347.51 in a single session, touching 380. That same day the two most public shorts surrendered: Melvin Capital, bleeding toward a 53% January loss, confirmed it had closed its position, and Citron's Andrew Left said he had covered most of his at a 100% loss. The rest of the market paid the margin call — funds selling longs to cover shorts dragged the S&P to its worst day since October. It was a Fed day; history kept almost none of the press conference.

The deeper account

Melvin Capital confirmed it closed its GameStop short that day (a 53% January loss); Citron's Andrew Left said he covered most of his at a 100% loss.

The squeeze had a chorus — AMC +301% on 1.25 billion shares, plus BlackBerry, Koss, Nokia — while funds de-grossing dragged every major index down more than 2%.

It was an FOMC day. Powell held a press conference; history kept almost none of it.

For one evening the sky ran retail's direction. What the morning did about it is the next page.

The epilogue: next morning GME printed 483, then Robinhood and other brokers restricted buying; the stock closed that day at 193.60. Congressional hearings followed within a month.

Second pigment day in the book's history: CRT phosphor on terminal black. The palette survives the entrance translation whole; The Geyser scene print retires to the archive's art, per the house precedent.

The artifact

The shot log — kept by nobody official

No permit, no program, no finale scheduled — the crowd fed shells all day from 147.98 and the sky just kept taking them. Two crews surrendered mid-show: one packed up a 53 percent January, the other covered at a hundred. The log's result line is the honest ledger of the evening: the whole rest of the sky paid, the index down 2.57 on funds selling everything else to cover. At close of business it was still burning.

Read the log

Printed text is shown plain; handwritten entries are shown in script.

UNSANCTIONED DISPLAY · UPPER DECK · SHOT LOG

9:30 — first shells up from 147.98.
all day — climbing. the crowd feeding shells.
the high — touched 380. still whistling.
mid-show — two crews surrendered. packed. gone.
close — 347.51. up 134.84. still burning.
RESULT: the rest of the sky paid for it — down 2.57.
STILL BURNING NEXT MORNING: 483 · THEN THE BUYING STOPPED · WHAT THE MORNING DID ABOUT IT IS THE NEXT PAGE

GameStop rose 134.84 percent to 347.51, touching 380, on short interest reported near 140 percent of float; AMC rose 301 percent on a billion and a quarter shares. Melvin Capital confirmed it had closed its short — a 53 percent January — and Citron covered at a 100 percent loss. The S&P fell 2.57 percent, its worst day since October, and the VIX jumped 61.6 percent. It was a Fed day; history kept almost none of the press conference.

The ledger — what actually happened

Measure	Close	Change	Marginalia
S&P 500	3,750.77	−98.85 · −2.57%	worst day since late October 2020 — the shorts sold everything else to pay for this
GameStop (GME)	347.51	+134.84%	intraday high 380; short interest reported near 140% of float
AMC	19.90	+301.2%	1.25 billion shares traded
Dow Jones	30,303.17	−633.87 · −2.05%
Nasdaq Composite	13,270.60	−2.61%
VIX	37.21		up 61.6% — the biggest one-day jump since February 2018
Next morning	483 → 193.60		GME's high-water mark printed minutes before brokers restricted buying

Sources

Robinhood market-data feed (SPX day bars; GME/AMC daily bars, unadjusted), pulled 2026-08-08
CNBC — Melvin Capital closed out of GameStop short position — https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/27/hedge-fund-targeted-by-reddit-board-melvin-capital-closed-out-of-gamestop-short-position-tuesday.html
NBC News — Dow tumbles amid GameStop mania, on pace for worst day since October — https://www.nbcnews.com/business/markets/dow-tumbles-700-points-amid-gamestop-frenzy-pace-worst-day-n1256186
CNBC — Melvin Capital lost more than 50% in January — https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/31/melvin-capital-lost-more-than-50percent-after-betting-against-gamestop-wsj.html
TheStreet — An in-depth timeline of the GameStop short squeeze saga — https://www.thestreet.com/investing/stocks/a-timeline-of-the-gamestop-short-squeeze
Forbes — In Battle Between Hedge Funds And Reddit Day Traders, Melvin Capital Closes Its Short — https://www.forbes.com/sites/naeemaslam/2021/01/27/gamestop-stock-in-battle-between-hedge-funds-and-reddit-day-traders-melvin-capital-closes-its-short/