Livestream of "Roaring Kitty" costs Gamestop shares 40 percent

On the day of the announcement of disappointing quarterly figures from retail chain Gamestop, Keith Gill failed in his latest attempt to trigger a share price rally. The man known under the pseudonyms "Roaring Kitty" (YouTube, X) and "DeepFuckingValue" (Reddit, r/wallstreetbets) had caused weeks of excitement around Gamestop shares in 2021.

After a three-year break, Gill made a very brief return via Platform X on May 13, 2024, which led to new discussions and an increase in the share price to over 47 US dollars from around 17 US dollars. Gill's first new livestream via YouTube was scheduled for yesterday, Friday. But unlike in 2021, where the licensed securities trader talked for hours about individual stocks, chart techniques and analyses, he ended this broadcast after just under 50 minutes.

All in good fun?

Right from the start, Gill made a clear effort to characterize the stream primarily as entertainment – including by dressing up as an accident victim - and opinion. It was by no means a recommendation for investment projects. As was the case three years ago, the "meme trader's" fan base, which at times consisted of over two million viewers, apparently understood this in the same way: the share price moved massively. In the run-up to the stream, trading had already been hit by the unexpectedly poor quarterly results. Analysts had expected a loss of 9 cents per share, but 12 cents were reported.

Starting at around USD 38, the share price peaked at over USD 47 before falling in several large steps to below USD 27. These figures refer to the current Yahoo Finance figures, which have been smoothed out of short-term jumps. Gill also used this service for a live display of the share price during his stream. Overall, the Gamestop share (GME) had lost around 40 percent from the highest, smoothed value during the stream to the end of the stream. According to Gill, trading in GME was suspended several times during the stream. After around 29 minutes, the share price was stuck at 29.45 US dollars for several minutes.

5 million GME in the portfolio

A few hours after the stream, it is still unclear which other investors or stock exchange regulators such as the SEC may have been at work. As was the case three years ago, Gill was unclear about his motives for such actions. However, he did state that he was not working with anyone else. He also did not add to his investment of 5 million Gamestop shares, which he had made public in May 2024, according to inserts in his portfolio. It was not possible to see whether he also traded shares during the stream.

(nie)