VR Headset Maker HTC Safe From Meta’s Stock Wipeout

Taiwan-based virtual reality headset manufacturer HTC, considered to be a metaverse proxy stock because the company’s Vive headsets are an essential tool for VR-based vision, was seemingly spared by Meta’s recent stock decline. HTC Taipei-listed stock posted a 5% gain by mid-day Monday as the markets in Taipei re-opened after the Lunar New Year.

Last week Meta, formerly known as Facebook, posted a $10 billion loss on its augmented and virtual reality division. This wiped over $200 billion from the company’s market cap as the stock subsequently plummeted over 25%, the stock's largest single-day decline yet.
This decline had a cascading effect on metaverse-related tokens. According to a prior report from CoinDesk, axie infinity (AXS), sandbox (SAND) and gala (GALA) fell as much as 12% in the 24-hour period after Meta’s earnings.
Since then investor sentiment on these tokens has changed. AXS is up 13% in the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko, decentraland (MANA) is up 8%, and GALA is posting a 7.5% gain.
According to on-chain data, approximately $4.3 million in short positions on MANA have been liquidated during the last 24 hours. AXS had $2.6 million in short liquidations during the same time period, and $1.5 million in long liquidations.
Despite the newfound interest in its VR headsets, HTC isn’t profitable. The company has faced fierce competition from other Android handset makers, pushing its phones down to a sub-1% market share, too low to be counted by most market research firms.
HTC first saw its stock rally around the metaverse in mid-October, around the time Facebook announced its rebranding to Meta. From mid-October to year's end, HTC stock posted gains of approximately 140%.
The company has been called Taiwan’s version of GameStop. Its VR headsets have been around since 2015; sales are increasing but annual volume is still moderate.
However, on PTT, Taiwan’s version of Reddit, references to the company’s name and ticker have spiked as many believe that without the Vive VR headset, the metaverse’s true vision is impossible to achieve.

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Sam Reynolds

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