(Bloomberg) — GameStop Corp. names Keith Gill — known online as “Roaring Kitty” — allegedly holding huge trading volumes late Wednesday as company shares fell in the final stretch of trading.
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The $20 GameStop calls expiring June 21 were traded 93,266 times, with most of that occurring after 3:30 p.m. While the average trading day was 21 contracts, trades in the final period of the day were almost twice as large.
In a social media post earlier this month, Gill claimed he had bought 120,000 contracts, with a subsequent post noting he had not yet closed his position.
News of his stance led to shares doubling in value to more than $45 this month, before retreating. The company took advantage of the rise to sell $2.14 billion in shares. As expiration approached, the question remained as to whether Gill would exercise the contracts to acquire the shares, or close the position.
While there's no way to know if he was involved in Wednesday's trading frenzy, the specter of the stock's major booster exiting some or all of its positions could weigh on shares, which fell as much as 19% on the day and closed down 17%. Priced at $25.46.
The $20 calls traded as high as $13.90 each on Wednesday, falling to $6.40 at the close. This is still higher than the claimed average purchase price of $5.6754.
(Updates with additional context starting in fourth paragraph)
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