coindesk.com
Keith Gill, known for the GameStop short squeeze of 2021, posted his GME options positions on Reddit, sparking a speculative frenzy in meme tokens and related equities.
Gill's social media activity has significantly influenced markets, with recent posts leading to rallies in various assets, including cat-themed meme tokens and shares of the videogames retailer.
Speculative frenzy drove prices of some meme tokens and Gamestop (GME) shares higher Monday after influential retail trader Keith Gill, known for the GME short squeeze of 2021, posted on his Reddit account for the first time in three years.
Gill, via his “DeepFu*kingValue” alias, posted his GME options positions on the r/superstonks Reddit forum in early Asian hours, showing bets of over $116 million in shares and $63 million in call options expiring June 21. He has already made a net $6.8 million on the position.
Related stocks and cat-themed meme tokens started to surge as the Reddit post went viral across social media platforms. Cat tokens toshi (TOSHI), mog (MOG), keycat (KEYCAT) and wen (WEN) were up as much as 37% in the past 24 hours, CoinGecko data shows, with most of the gains coming after Gill’s post. GME, a Solana meme token spoofing the company's stock ticker, rose over 200%, according to DEXTools data.
GameStop shares added more than 80% and cinema chain AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. (AMC) rose as much as 36% in premarket trading, MarketWatch data show.
This is the second time in under a month that Gill’s social media activity has moved crypto and stock markets. In May, Gill posted on his @TheRoaringKittyX account for the first time since late 2021, sparking rallies across Solana meme tokens.
Gill earned influence and market authority after analyzing GameStop's financials on Reddit stock market forums starting in 2019, which gained traction during the COVID-19 pandemic. This created a viral phenomenon at the time, and was largely cited as a driving factor in the GameStop short squeeze of January 2021, as several small-time traders bandied together and purchased options and leveraged shares of the company.
Gill’s initial $53,000 investment was worth nearly $50 million at its peak, emerging as a rags-to-riches story that has since seeded a cult following.
UPDATE (June 3, 11:24 UTC): Adds GameStop shares in fourth paragraph.