Retail Traders Warm Up to Opendoor (OPEN) Again

Retail Traders Are Warming Up to Opendoor Again

Opendoor (OPEN) shares jumped 12.7% over the past five trading days, finally settling in and closing at $8.16 today. This reverses a slide that Opendoor has seen since early September, when they recently peaked around $10.21 a share

The turnaround coincides with a noticeable shift in retail investor sentiment on platforms like Reddit and X. The stock has now gained 413.84% year-to-date, transforming from a cautionary tale into what traders are openly calling a meme stock with legitimate turnaround potential. What started as skepticism in early October has evolved into cautious optimism, with sentiment scores climbing from neutral territory into somewhat-bullish range by late October.

What’s behind the drive? There are a few bright spots, but specificly:

• Co-founder Keith Rabois has rejoined the board as Chairman
• The former CEO, Carrie Wheeler resigned in August. She had lost the support of the investor base, and Rabois
• a broader recognition among retail traders that Opendoor’s AI-driven platform improvements and the housing market recovery narrative are gaining traction
• There is a lot of enthusiasm about lowered interest rates, which would help Opendoor and other housing related stocks like Zillow Group (Nasdaq: ZG), and Rocket Companies (NYSE: RKT)

Volume Spikes Confirm Renewed Retail Interest

Trading activity tells the story of shifting sentiment. OPEN saw explosive volume on Sept 11 (1.01 billion shares), marking the initial meme stock breakout. After a 26% correction in late September, volumes remained elevated through October, averaging 200-288 million shares on rally days. The Oct 24 surge to $8.39 drove 208 million shares, and Oct 27 closed with 110 million shares, well above the normal 50-100 million daily average. This sustained activity signals that retail traders haven’t abandoned the position; they’ve simply repositioned it.

What Comes Next

The sentiment shift is real and measurable. Traders have moved from questioning whether to buy OPEN to actively accumulating on dips. But that shift is entirely sentiment-driven, not fundamentals-driven. Watch for the next quarterly earnings report to see if operational improvements translate to narrowing losses. Monitor whether OPEN can hold above the $7.01 50-day moving average if retail enthusiasm wanes. Compare OPEN’s momentum to competitors like Z and RDFN, which lack the meme stock tailwind but offer more stability.

For now, OPEN has traders’ attention. Whether it keeps it depends on whether the turnaround story holds up under scrutiny or whether this becomes another chapter in the meme stock cycle.

What other companies could catch meme stock fever next? Meme mania lighting rarely strikes twice, but if you believe low interest rates will be a tailwind to the sector, look to other housing related stocks like Zillow Group (Nasdaq: ZG), and Rocket Companies (NYSE: RKT)