Who is "Roaring Kitty"?

On Monday, Eastern Time, Keith Gill, under the username "Roaring Kitty" (@TheRoaringKitty), posted a picture on the X platform. The image depicts a video game player who appears to have suddenly gained a soul and intensified focus on the game. This marks Gill's first activity on the platform since 2021, potentially signalling his return.

In 2021, Gill actively posted on the Wallstreetbet forum, encouraging a large number of retail investors to buy GME stocks, triggering the globally anticipated "Wall Street Bets" event. In that event, the stock price of GameStop soared dozens of times in just a few days, causing almost all short-selling institutions to suffer heavy losses.

Gill's X account has been dormant for nearly three years, and there are rumours that he has been investigated by US regulatory authorities. But now, he seems to be indicating that he is ready to re-enter the investment war and unite retail investors to join another battle. The image received 14 million views and 77,000 likes within 15 hours. The next morning, he posted more emojis from Meme culture, including one from the resurrected Wolverine (played by Hugh Jackman) to Walter White (played by Brian Cranston) in Breaking Bad: "When I say we're done, we're done."

Short-selling market resurfaces?

In the January 2021 battle, Keith Gill found that the short-selling ratio of GameStop stock was as high as 140%. If retail investors continue to buy in groups, pushing up GameStop's stock price, because the actual number of tradable stocks is less than the number lent out, the bears must rush to buy back stocks to reduce losses, thereby pushing GameStop's stock price to continue to rise, known as the "short-selling" market.

Keith became the leader of these retail investors. He wears his iconic red headscarf every day on YouTube LIVE, calling on everyone to buy GameStop stocks.

But can the "short-selling" trend repeat itself this time? According to the latest data, as of May 10th, the short-selling ratios of AMC and GameStop were 15.63% and 19.72% respectively. According to media reports, due to the rise of GameStop's stock, short sellers lost $1 billion on May 13th. *1

（Picture: AMC short selling ratio and days of covering）

Renowned analyst Ihor Dusaniwsky said, "It is expected that GME will see short covering... Short squeeze will help push up GameStop's stock price. However, it is not ruled out that more short sellers will join this battle."

Ihor Dusaniwsky pointed out that not only GameStop, but also other meme stocks are expected to experience significant fluctuations. "The sellers of these stocks may experience a bumpy and bloody journey."

However, some people believe that speculative trading is often fast in and out, and once the market has the next hot spot, it is likely to shift. The WSB incident may be short-lived, just a farce before NVIDIA's financial report is released on May 22nd.

*1: Caixin: "Leading Big Brother" Returns! US Stocks Repeat Short-selling Mania, Wall Street Bears Lose $1 Billion Overnight

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