GameStop's stock remained volatile ahead of option expiry as meme trader Keith Gill's bets drew continued attention, with a surge in call option volume.
GameStop (NYSE:GME) shares stayed volatile on Thursday, a week out from option expiry for Roaring Kitty, aka Keith Gill, as stock trading notched the price up around 7%.
It comes amid reports of “a surge in volume” for the call option that Gill previously disclosed he held in a social media post earlier this month.
Gill via Reddit, where he goes by the DeepFuckingValue pseudonym, posted a screenshot that revealed a ‘$115 million bet’ on the price of GameStop via these call options (which allow him to buy a set number of shares at a price of $20).
The post by Gill revealed that he held 120,000 of the call options as well as 5 million GameStop shares.
Analysis of the posts made by Gill suggests he doesn’t have sufficient funds to exercise all these options (which would cost $240 million dollars, versus his purported $30 million cash position).
As is customary with many options trades, it would therefore be expected that Gill would trade out of the position – either by selling them or by ‘rolling them over’ into a new option position with another expiry date.
The price of the option series that Gill holds dropped 40% yesterday at the same time as the trading volume in the derivative line was up 9 times its prior average, media reports highlighted.
Eagle-eyed and speculative market watchers keenly watch on, awaiting further social media posts from the high-profile ‘meme trader’.
In the meantime, it continues to be a volatile time in the market for GameStop, which this week closed out a $2 billion ‘at the market’ share sale to investors – in which it offloaded 75 million new shares.
On Thursday, GameStop shares were up $1.82 or 7.15% each changing hands above $27 each.
