Shares of GameStop Corp. are expected to experience significant volatility at the opening of trading on Monday, following a Reddit account’s revelation of a purported $116 million position in the stock. The screenshot, posted by Keith Gill, known as DeepF— Value on Reddit, shows the purchase of five million shares at $21.27 per share. This marked Gill’s first post in three years. While the authenticity of the screenshot, which also included 120,000 call options valued at $65.7 million set to expire on June 21, could not be confirmed, these options would grant him the right to buy the stock at $20 per share. In pre-market trading on Sunday, GameStop’s stock surged over 19% to $27.58 on Robinhood, which permits 24-hour transactions for certain stocks, reaching the upper limit set by the trading platform.
On the social media platform X, a user named Gill, known as Roaring Kitty, shared a post featuring a UNO reverse card. This card is typically used in the game to change the direction of card-pickup. Within just five hours of its publication at around 8 p.m. on Sunday New York time, the post had garnered over 4.5 million views.
According to Robert Lea, an analyst from Bloomberg Intelligence, the recent surge in interest in meme stocks, coinciding with the struggle of the main US indices to reach new highs, may indicate excessive over exuberance and could potentially be a negative sign considering the challenges currently faced by the markets.
Since his initial rally of day-traders on Reddit in 2021 to buy the stock and counter short sellers, Gill has been relatively quiet on social media. At that time, he argued that the company had the potential to transform itself into a leading gaming hub.
However, in mid-May, Gill made a comeback on platform X with a post featuring an image of a video gamer leaning in, generating speculation that he may actively return to the market.
Since his mid-May post, GameStop shares have experienced a decline of over 50% following a two-day surge. The stock gained significant attention earlier this year when it skyrocketed by over 2,000%, contributing to the popularization of meme stocks.
In his previous Reddit post on April 16, 2021, Gill shared a screenshot revealing his ownership of 200,000 GameStop shares, valued at approximately $30.9 million at the time.
Gill’s most recent Reddit post was made on the r/Superstonk subforum, a platform dedicated to theoretical discussions about GameStop stock.