Trading halted as GameStop shares surge 110% on ‘Roaring Kitty’ return

The news: Shares in the infamous GameStop soared during trading on Monday, after the meme stock celebrity Keith Gill, known as ‘Roaring Kitty’, marked his return to social media.

The numbers: Shares in the brick and mortar gaming retailer, GameStop, climbed over 110% shortly after market open on Monday, sending shares from USD17 ($25.73) to USD37. Trading has been halted several times due to volatility on the stock.

The context: Gill made his highly anticipated return to social media by sharing a meme on his X profile on Sunday night. The image, which depicts a gamer leaning forward in their chair, is the first time Gill has posted in around three years, and has raked in over 75,000 likes on the platform.

Gill is a former marketer for Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance, and gained notoriety for engineering the 2021 retail trading campaign that pit day traders against institutional investors in a dramatic short squeeze. Gill posted frequently about the GameStop stock on Reddit’s WallStreetBets platform, resulting in hordes of individual investors driving up the price of GameStop at the expense of several hedge funds including Melvin Capital, which held short positions in the stock. Citadel and Point72 were called in to backstop Melvin’s losses with a USD3 billion injection.