GameStop shares soared on Monday, after “Roaring Kitty”, Keith Gill, who was at the center of the 2021 Stock Market Frenzy surrounding the struggling video game chain, posted a Reddit post that appeared to show $116m in bets on the chain.
Stocks rose up to 74% before falling in volatile trading. By mid-morning it had risen by 31%.
By 5:53am ET, just hours before Wall Street officially opened the day, approximately $390m in GameStop stock had been traded.
The first post from Gill’s Reddit page in three years, when screenshots of his bullish GameStop trading had in 2021 triggered an influx of demand for “meme stock” – companies with weak foundations that gained a following like a cult through social media hype.
The screenshot published on Sunday shows a GameStop stock holding of 5m or 1.8%. The screenshot also showed $65.7m in GameStop call option, which are typically purchased to express a bullish outlook, expiring 21 June, at a strike of $20.
Gill has not yet commented beyond social media. The screenshot is not independently verified. GameStop shares also surged when he resurfaced on X last month with a series of cryptic tweets.
Ben Laidler is the global markets strategist for eToro. He said that Keith Gill was putting his money on his tweets. Some investors have followed his example and are rekindling their interest in meme stock.
GameStop shares have plummeted since the peak of “meme stocks” in early 2021. This was at the height when viral memes were driving a number of companies to success.
In March, the chain cut an unspecified number of jobs to reduce costs and reported a lower fourth-quarter revenue. In March, GameStop cut a number of unspecified jobs in order to reduce costs. It also reported lower revenue for the fourth quarter.
GameStop was the top trending topic on stockstwits.com – a social media platform aimed at investors. This indicates increased conversation among traders. AMC, another meme stock, rose by 13%.
According to Ortex Technologies, the data and analytics company, Monday’s surge put GameStop short-sellers on track to rack nearly $1bn of paper losses.
Gill’s “final update” post, from April 2021 and titled “Final Update”, revealed that he owned 200,000 GameStop stock worth $30.9m.
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