The revived saga of Keith Gill, aka Roaring Kitty, hit a crescendo this week when the meme stock influencer last seen in 2021 finally showed his face on a livestream after weeks of mysterious, market-altering social media posts that some had doubted were actually from him.
It was really him. The event came with market-wide ramifications—some of which did not work out in Gill’s favor.
After reports that Gill might be in trouble with regulators and trading platforms for posting a series of cryptic tweets and less-cryptic posts on Reddit that quadrupled the price of Gamestop (GME)—and similarly pumped other meme stocks and related crypto tokens—the influencer scheduled a live broadcast on YouTube for Friday.
As soon as the broadcast began, Twitter erupted, unleashing a week's worth of Crypto Twitter craziness in a matter of hours. And the appearance—Gill’s first in years—was characteristically absurd, partly thanks to his wearing bandages and an arm sling.
I'm telling my kids this was Warren Buffett pic.twitter.com/w5eTCXZib9
— LilMoonLambo (@LilMoonLambo) June 7, 2024
Twitter users rejoiced as the mainstream financial press begrudgingly—but breathlessly—covered the stream, given Gill’s historically outsize influence over meme stocks.
This is the funniest shit I have ever seen $GME perfectly done @TheRoaringKitty 💀⚡️ pic.twitter.com/5rQMQdKAoP
— LightningWarrior (@LightninWarrior) June 7, 2024
During the show, Gill delved into his GME position, which had caught the eye of market watchers even before he revealed it was him. It was worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and had grown by leaps and bounds almost daily.
HOLY SHIT!
I have been reporting on a GameStop, $GME whale buying $20 calls expiring June 21 over last seven days.
DeepFuckingValue aka RoaringKitty just disclosed he was the whale on Superstonk.
This is insane.
His position value is over $200 MILLION in $GME. pic.twitter.com/UtheyMxp9v
— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) June 3, 2024
Many speculated that holding such a position could put the influencer in hot water given his proven market-moving power.
This guy is going to jail. https://t.co/kRkhcCwhMZ
— Jared Dillian (@dailydirtnap) June 3, 2024
That context certainly cast a pall over Gill’s livestream on Friday. Indeed, the trader started by asking over 700,000 viewers, “Do I have to be careful about what I say here?”
the SEC waiting for the roaring kitty stream to start pic.twitter.com/SWFURxJFVi
— tony (@IceCreamTony) June 7, 2024
Roaring Kitty just showed his portfolio:
- $350M total
- Down $220M today
- All in on $GME Gamestop with some cash
On E-Trade potentially removing his account:
“I see those headlines, and I’m like, what the hell did I do man?” pic.twitter.com/iJWgtx5kjT
— amit (@amitisinvesting) June 7, 2024
The most immediate market movement that day, however, was not caused by Gill nor by regulators, but instead by the company whose stock he favored: GameStop released its quarterly earnings report four days early—basically beating Roaring Kitty to the spotlight—and the numbers were not great.
Over the course of Friday, GME plunged nearly 40%, wiping out some $235 million from Gill’s position.
GME down 40% today pic.twitter.com/TJFZ9k6qTj
— Mod (@wsbmod) June 7, 2024
Some felt the GME cause would have been better served if Gill never spoke.
Having watched some of the Roaring Kitty stream, he should have just not talked. I can't imagine that the regulators aren't going to be all over these comments. $GME
— squawksquare (@squawksquare) June 7, 2024
But others were adamant that in several crucial, even subtle ways, Roaring Kitty’s chaotic revival was actually a quiet success.
$GME holders:
On the surface Roaring Kitty’s livestream today wasn’t the most exciting. He was late, seemed to choose implicative words carefully, and he didn’t execute the call options live.
However there are several major things he accomplished: ✅He showed that it is indeed…
— Charlie Plattus (@zipcharlie) June 7, 2024
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.
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