Quintessential meme stock GameStop (GME) skyrocketed 48% in a single day, closing out Thursday at $46.55, hours after its biggest booster Keith Gill—better known as Roaring Kitty—publicly scheduled a YouTube livestream for noon ET on Friday.
The move came after eagle-eyed fanatics noticed a small update to his YouTube account earlier in the day. GME was already up 9% intraday at the time, capping off a dizzying few days where the share price popped 16% yesterday alone, and its strong growth led to potential losses of $1 billion for short sellers who expected its price to weaken.
The price of GME is up 185% over the past month; its returns over the past six months and year-to-date show roughly the same rise.
Moments after markets closed, Gill's DeepFuckingValue account on Reddit posted a new “YOLO update” that showed GME's closing price, and another massive set of gains.
The stock—along with other nostalgia-tinged "meme stocks" like AMC Entertainment—rocked the markets in 2021 when retail investors rushed to buy, many hoping to hurt large institutional investors that had bet heavily against it.
GME has again been on a roll since Roaring Kitty returned to Twitter on May 12. Even though his cryptic video clip posts did not mention GameStop, it caused enough of a frenzy that GME trading had to be halted several times the following day.
After a couple of weeks of silence, Roaring Kitty returned to both Twitter and Reddit this week, with a new post under Gill's DeepFuckingValue account on Sunday explicitly indicating GameStop stock holdings—and a massive $200 million bet that the game retailer's stock will be worth more than $20 on June 21.
Gill's revelation of direct participation in the GME rally he sparked was enough to prompt investment giant Morgan Stanley to reportedly consider removing him from its ETrade trading platform, and drew the scrutiny of federal and state regulators concerned about market manipulation.
With Twitter and Reddit accounts revived, Gill's return to YouTube was perhaps inevitable.
The last Roaring Kitty livestream was in April 2021 and has garnered 1.1 million views since. Anticipation is high for the upcoming show, with over 14,200 YouTube users already signed up to watch as of writing. The associated chat is already overflowing with a constant stream of live comments.
While meme stock, crypto traders, and everyday investors wait with bated breath to hear what Gill might have to say on Friday, the livestream description includes a frank disclaimer similar to the ones that have always preceded one of his videos.
“The Roaring Kitty channel and livestreams are for educational and entertainment purposes only,” it reads. “I don't provide personal investment advice or stock recommendations during the stream.”
Edited by Andrew Hayward
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The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice.