Melissa Kopka/iStock (NEW YORK) — The GameStop saga. No one could have anticipated that a struggling video game retailer would be at the center of a next-level frenzy in the stock market that captivated the world, brought hedge funds to their knees and upended the conventions about small investors. Users from the Reddit page r/wallstreetbets earlier this month gobbled up stock from floundering chain GameStop, sending the price soaring and forcing institutional investors who bet against the company to back out — performing what’s known as a “short squeeze.” The phenomenon — where short sellers are forced to repurchase stock as prices rise, thereby pushing the price higher — isn’t new, but the combination of characters and technology and novel trading platforms forced Wall Street and regulators to pay attention to retail investors as never before.