"Dumb Money" is heavily influenced by last year's GameStop meme stock mania. In early to mid-2021, a group of Reddit-based investors rallied to fuel the surge of GameStop shares into meme territory. This resulted in unusually high swings of the video game retailer's stock that saw it rally in double-digit percentages for some time. The GameStop short squeeze led to leading hedge funds and independent short sellers incurring massive financial losses. This also resulted in stronger calls for more regulation of the stock market due to the perceived manipulation of stock prices by the Wall Street Reddit group.