GameStop Experiences Wild Fluctuations Ahead of Roaring Kitty's Livestream: What's the Market Buzzing About?

The latest wave of the meme stock frenzy began on the evening of May 12, when "Roaring Kitty," who had vanished from social media since June 2021, re-emerged with a post on X. This post electrified Reddit's WallStreetBets forum, various Discord chats, and the popular chatroom StockTwits. On that Monday, GME surged over 110% intraday, triggering multiple trading halts, and closed up 74.4%.

With trading volumes across meme stocks dwindling alongside falling share prices, the market is eagerly awaiting Roaring Kitty or another influencer to reignite the excitement.

At the beginning of this week, Gill also shared an image of a reverse card from the game UNO, indicating a change in direction, which drove the share price to soar over 100% in pre-market trading.

After the announcement of his YouTube livestream yesterday, the stock price has risen by 76% in just two days and has increased by 167% since May 12. However, the stock price remains 60% lower than its highest point in 2021.

If Gill's screenshot is accurate and he has not altered his position since posting it, his net worth is at least equal to the value of his portfolio, which, as of market close on Thursday, June 6, would be approximately $568.35 million.

On the other hand, short sellers have suffered massive losses. Data analytics firm S3 Partners reported that GameStop short sellers endured nearly $1 billion in mark-to-market losses, with bearish investors losing approximately $1.36 billion this month.

The market's response to the latest earnings report warrants attention: Five hours before the start of the livestream, GameStop released its latest financial report, which revealed that both the net sales and adjusted earnings per share (EPS) for the first quarter were below expectations. The net sales for the quarter were $0.882 billion, which fell short of the prior year's first quarter sales of $1.237 billion, while the adjusted EPS was $0.12 per share, compared to $0.14 per share in the same period of the previous year. As of now, GameStop's pre-market is down roughly 20%, after having previously risen by more than 35%.

The content of Roaring Kitty's live stream: Although Gill's YouTube post did not mention what he planned to discuss or whether he would disclose new positions, there has been speculation that he will express a positive outlook for GameStop.

Regulatory scrutiny: Gill's fervent social media following is also drawing regulatory attention. On this Monday,the Wall Street Journal reported that E*Trade, owned by Morgan Stanley, was contemplating removing Gill from their trading platform due to concerns of potential stock manipulation in relation to his GameStop activities. Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission has been investigating trading activity in GameStop call options during the timing of Gill's social media posts to assess whether they constituted manipulation, according to the WSJ.