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.