Online stock influencer "Roaring Kitty" has announced that he would host a YouTube livestream on June 7, following which the stock of GameStop surged to nearly 50 percent on June 6.
The "Roaring Kitty" channel on YouTube on Thursday showed an upcoming livestream scheduled for 09:30 PM IST on June 7. The livestream, which could be his first in almost 4 years, is likely to have a bullish discussion on his GameStop holdings, believe market traders.
Speculations are rife that Roaring Kitty, whose real name is Keith Gill and is the main protagonist of the 2021 meme stock frenzy, could become a billionaire today.
"If $GME opens at or above current levels tomorrow, his shares will be worth ~$325 million and options worth ~$700 million for a combined ~$1 billion," the kobeissi letter, a global market research group, said on X.
That's an $850 million gain on his position, the group added.
"With the spike in implied volatility, his options could be worth over $700 million tomorrow. If he decides to execute these options on the live stream, he will own ~6.3 percent of the public float."
Meanwhile on June 3, a report by the Wall Street Journal said that online broker E*Trade may consider banning Keith Gill, who resumed posting online after a three-year hiatus in recent weeks. This has triggered a backlash on social media sites.
E*Trade-parent Morgan Stanley, declined to comment on the report and the messages on social media calling for a boycott of the brokerage platform.
Brokerages have invited the ire of retail customers in the past, most notably in 2021 when Robinhood came under fire after it restricted purchases of certain heavily traded stocks, including GameStop, because of volatility.
The surge in GameStop stock on June 6 was the latest in a bout of volatile trading in the struggling videogame seller's shares that kicked off last month after the influencer, whose real name is Keith Gill, returned to X.com after a three-year hiatus.
On June 3, GameStop shares closed over 20 percent higher after Gill's Reddit profile returned with a post showing a $116 million bet on the stock after a three-year gap.
Gill was a key player in the 2021 rally in GameStop and other so-called meme stocks that was fueled by individual investors on Reddit's wallstreetbets forum.
His recent return to social media rekindled rallies in GameStop, as well as other shares popular with individual traders on social media.
AMC Entertainment jumped 12 percent on Thursday, while headphone maker Koss rallied 15 percent.
Gill developed a cult following of traders who fueled sharp gains in GameStop, which scalded hedge funds that had bet against the shopping mall retailer that was struggling with shrinking sales as videogame fans shifted to online purchases.
Ending Thursday at $46.55 per share, GameStop has surged over 160 percent in 2024. In 2021, the stock reached an intra-day peak of nearly $121 before tumbling nearly 90 percent in the following five sessions.
Gill did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the upcoming livestream.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission investigated the meme stock craze of 2021, ultimately finding that marketplace systems worked well.
With inputs from Reuters
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