Quick Take:

• A post by @TheRoaringKitty, aka Keith Gill, on X sparks rallies in meme coins and GameStop stock.
• Gill’s cult following from the GameStop short squeeze of 2021 contributes to the market movement.

A single post on Monday sent shockwaves through the crypto and stock markets as retail trader Keith Gill, known as @TheRoaringKitty, resurfaced on X with a meme signaling a “locking in” period. This seemingly innocuous post triggered a frenzy among users, who interpreted it as a cue to focus on specific stocks and tokens.

Gill’s previous involvement in the GameStop short squeeze of January 2021 has granted him a cult-like following, capable of moving markets with a single post. The impact was immediate: GameStop (NYSE: GME) stock surged by over 44% in pre-market trading and skyrocketed by as much as 100% after market open, prompting trading halts. Similarly, cinema chain AMC Entertainment Holdings (NYSE: AMC) witnessed a pre-market surge of 12%, followed by a staggering 30% increase after the opening bell.

In the crypto sphere, tokens associated with Gill and meme stocks experienced exponential growth. An unaffiliated GameStop meme coin on the Solana blockchain soared by more than 550%, according to DEXTools data, while an AMC token recorded a jaw-dropping 1,200% jump. Microcap cat-themed meme coins like kitty (KITTY) saw astronomical gains, with some rising by thousands of percent. Larger tokens such as popcat (POPCAT) and mog (MOG) also surged by over 15%. Even established meme coins like Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB) enjoyed gains of 5% and 7%, respectively.

In response to Gill’s resurgence, opportunistic developers wasted no time in issuing a plethora of tokens referencing Gill, GameStop, and the popular meme term “stonks.” This influx of new tokens further fueled the frenzy, amplifying market volatility and signaling the enduring influence of retail traders in the digital asset space.

Who is Roaring Kitty?

Gill’s analysis of the video game retailer GameStop on Reddit, starting in 2019 and gaining traction during the COVID pandemic, created a viral phenomenon at the time. It was largely cited as a driving factor in the GameStop short squeeze of January 2021 as several small-time traders banded together and purchased options and leveraged shares of the company.

The stock rose from $4 to over $120 in a month and, at its peak, was up thousands of percent from its lifetime low of 64 cents in April 2020.

Gill’s initial $53,000 investment was worth nearly $50 million at its peak, emerging as a rags-to-riches story of a lone trader making a fortune from his bedroom by betting against hedge funds. One of the most prolific losers was Melvin Capital, a fund that lost billions of dollars betting on the decline of meme stocks, among other bets that move against it.