Remember Beyond Meat? That plant-based burger company that was supposed to save the world and your portfolio? Well, it just pulled off one of the most spectacular financial face-plants of 2025 – and honestly, it’s kind of beautiful in its chaos.
Here’s what happened: BYND stock went absolutely bonkers last week, shooting up over 1,300% in four days. Yes, you read that right. Thirteen. Hundred. Percent. That’s the kind of move that makes people quit their day jobs and start day-trading from their mom’s basement.
But here’s the thing about rocket ships – they eventually run out of fuel. By Wednesday, Beyond Meat came crashing back down to earth, wiping out most of those gains faster than you can say “impossible burger.” Thursday? Even worse, with the stock dropping another 23%.
So what caused this financial roller coaster? Enter our hero: a Dubai-based trader who goes by “Capybara Stocks” (because of course he does). This guy basically announced on Reddit that he’d bought a massive chunk of Beyond Meat shares, and the internet did what the internet does best – it went completely insane.
But here’s where it gets spicy. Short-sellers – those brave souls who bet against companies – were already heavily positioned against Beyond Meat. When the meme army showed up, these shorts got absolutely demolished. We’re talking $120 million in losses since last Friday. Ouch.
Think of it like this: imagine you’re at a casino betting that red will come up on roulette, but then a flash mob storms in and somehow makes the ball land on black 13 times in a row. That’s basically what happened to Beyond Meat shorts.
The numbers are pretty wild. Short-sellers went from being up $80 million this year to being down $45 million. That’s a $125 million swing in the wrong direction. Some of these folks were forced to buy back 5.7 million shares just to stop the bleeding – which, ironically, only made the stock go higher.
This whole saga is giving serious GameStop 2021 vibes, and not in a good way. It’s a reminder that in today’s meme-driven market, fundamentals sometimes take a backseat to viral TikToks and Reddit posts.
The real lesson here? The stock market has become part financial institution, part social media circus. Beyond Meat makes plant-based burgers, but somehow a guy with a capybara avatar can move the stock more than actual earnings reports.
For the shorts who got caught in this mess, it’s a expensive reminder that betting against meme stocks is like playing with fire while covered in gasoline. Sure, you might be right about the fundamentals, but the market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent.
As for Beyond Meat itself? Well, they’re probably just happy people are talking about them again, even if it’s for all the wrong reasons.