GameStop Options Action Hints ‘Roaring Kitty’ Shrank Bullish Bet


(Bloomberg) — Holdings of the GameStop Corp. call options Keith Gill — known online as ‘Roaring Kitty’ — purported to own shrank amid a flurry of late trading Wednesday, suggesting that he may have sold some of the position.

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Volume of GameStop $20 calls expiring on June 21 surged to 93,266 times on Wednesday, mostly in the last half hour of trading, making it the most-active option. The number of outstanding contracts dropped 34% to 111,818, fewer than the 120,000 Gill alleged in a social media post earlier this month to have bought. A subsequent post showed as of June 10 he still held the position.

Wednesday’s high volume of trading and change in outstanding positions “suggest that Gill, assuming he is in fact the holder of those calls, sold to close” at least part the position, according to Christopher Jacobson, co-head of derivative strategy at Susquehanna International Group.

News of his position sent shares nearly doubling to over $45 this month, before retreating. The company capitalized on the rally to sell $2.14 billion of shares. With expiration approaching, the question has remained whether Gill would exercise the contracts to receive shares, or close out the position.

As of early Thursday, Gill had yet to address the Wednesday afternoon trades or his holdings, despite rampant speculation that he had exited the unverified position. What — if anything — that might mean for shares remains unclear. GameStop shares sank 17% amid the flurry of trading on Wednesday.

The $20 calls, which closed at $6.40 Wednesday, traded between $6 and $7.95 early Thursday as shares rose about $1 to $26.46. That leaves the options still above his purported average purchase price of $5.6754.

“Whichever direction that shares move today, it’s not going to be because they’re blaming Keith Gill,” said Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter, referring to retail traders. “I don’t think it will be negative. They’ll say: good for him.”

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