Finance
GameStop shares soar more than 70% as ‘Roaring Kitty’ revival revives meme stock bonanza
GameStop shares (GME) soared as much as 110% on Monday before paring gains, having been halted numerous times due to volatility following “Roaring Kitty,” the person credited with kickstarting the meme stock frenzy during the pandemic. Posted online for the first time since 2021.
The stock rose above $30 per share on Monday and closed up 75%. Shares have been on an upward trend, rising about 60% in the past two weeks.
“Roaring Kitty,” identified that year as Keith Gill, became a prominent figure on the WallStreetBets subreddit and YouTube for his bullish stance on GameStop (GME).
Sunday’s post on X, formerly known as Twitter, featured a meme of a video gamer leaning in and appearing to take the game seriously. The post received more than 81,000 likes and 9,000 comments. The last time Roaring Kitty posted on X was in June 2021.
He was known for posting commentary about why GameStop would go higher and eventually testified before Congress about the massive January 2021 short squeeze spurred by an army of retail traders.
According to data from S3 Partners, the short interest on GameStop is about 24% of the float.
“Including today’s losses, GME shorts are now down -$1.34 billion for the month of May to date, and now down -$952 million for the year,” Ihor Dusaniwsky, managing director of S3 Partners, said on Monday to Yahoo Finance.
Monday’s short squeeze follows a recent rally in meme-related stocks. Theater chain operator AMC (AMC) gained as much as 50% during the session, while Trump Media & Technology (DJT) gained 8%.
“Short sellers could be in for a bumpy and bloody ride in these stocks,” Dusaniwsky said.
As Yahoo Finance’s Jared Blikre recently noted, the recent rise in meme stocks does not appear to be the ominous sign it was in the past, but rather a healthy risk appetite for investments.
Ines Ferre is a senior business reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter at @ines_ferre.
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