Keith Gill, known as “Roaring Kitty” online, testifies during a virtual hearing on GameStop before the House Financial Services Committee on February 18, 2021. On Monday, Gill posted live first line on X in about three years, sending GameStop shares sharply higher.
House Financial Services Committee through AP/House Financial Services Committee
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House Financial Services Committee through AP/House Financial Services Committee
Keith Gill, known as “Roaring Kitty” online, testifies during a virtual hearing on GameStop before the House Financial Services Committee on February 18, 2021. On Monday, Gill posted live first line on X in about three years, sending GameStop shares sharply higher.
House Financial Services Committee through AP/House Financial Services Committee
Shares of video game retailer GameStop jumped as much as 118% on Monday after the “Roaring Kitty” meme stock investor posted a cryptic image of X, in his first post on the platform online platform after about three years.
Roaring Kitty, who has become one of the main drivers of the 2021 protests at GameStop and at other companies like movie theater chain AMC, posted a photo of a person leaning forward while Grip the game controller tightly.
The image is known like a meme That shows things are starting to get “serious”. This is the first X post from Roaring Kitty online follower Keith Gill since June 2021.
Trading in GameStop shares has been halted multiple times, showing how intense the activity around the stock is. Shares were up more than 60% by early afternoon.
For many investors, it was a reminder of the meme stock craze that swept markets in 2021, when the pandemic kept many people around the world at home.
GameStop has had a bit of a comeback this month: Shares were up 57% this month through the end of last week, before shares rose again on Monday.
‘A form of entertainment’
Keith Gill, aka Roaring Kitty, was instrumental in starting that meme stock craze about three years ago.
Gill became a day trader after working for Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, or MassMutual. During the pandemic, he and other amateur investors banded together to form Reddit groups like wallstreetbets to buy shares of companies like GameStop, AMC and retailer Bed Bath & Beyond to the embarrassment of the public. professional investors on Wall Street.
Often these amateur investors will buy shares of companies that some professional investors are betting against.
Professor James Angel, a finance professor at Georgetown University, warns about the risks of meme stocks for amateur investors, calling them “a form of entertainment.”
Meme stocks tend to include companies that are “troubled and often very volatile,” Angel added.
GameStop is in the midst of trying to turn things around after seeing sales decline as more people turned to online gaming.
The retailer continues to focus on increasing online sales and cutting costs.
