Roaring Kitty Blinks: The Open Interest On GameStock’s $20 Calls Falls By 58,145 Contracts To Below 120,000

There is an apparent glitch in the matrix. Keith Gill, who goes by the moniker Roaring Kitty and is widely considered the architect of the meme stock mania of 2021, appears to have failed in sustainably igniting GameStop's momentum engine and has now sold at least a part of his gigantic stash of $20 calls on the stock ahead of their expiration on the 21st of June.

A Timeline Of Roaring Kitty's GameStop Moves

A few days back, Gill revealed that he now owned 5 million physical GameStop shares, and retained control over an additional 12 million shares through his 120,000 call options on the stock bearing the $20 strike price and expiring on the 21st of June. This stake of 17 million shares equated to around 5.57 percent ownership in GameStop, based on the company's 305.30 million shares outstanding.

This revelation ignited a brief yet fierce momentum in GameStop shares as Redditors and retail investors speculated on Roaring Kitty's game plan for what is being widely dubbed as the meme stock mania 2.0. Some retail investors theorized that Gill was waiting for the stock to hit the $42.20 price level, where Gill could then sell his 5 million physical shares to raise the $240 million required to exercise his 12 million call options at $20 per share. Doing so would have theoretically compelled market makers to locate 12 million shares on the open market. With GameStop's retail army continuing to HODL, this setup could have, in theory, paved the way for the stock's price to violently adjust upward.

These expectations reached a fever pitch when Roaring Kitty announced a live stream event for the 07th of June. However, the live stream ended up as a gigantic nothingburger, prompting a negative correction in GameStop shares.

The Open Interest On GameStop's $20 Call Falls To X Contracts

This brings us to the crux of the matter. GameStop's $20 calls that expire on the 21st of June saw heavy selling volume yesterday, prompting widespread commentary that Roaring Kitty might be selling his calls. The more sympathetic chatter theorized that the OG meme stock veteran might be rolling out his calls to a later expiration.

We can now confirm that Roaring Kitty has indeed sold a part of his stash of $20 calls on GameStop, as evidenced by the fact that the open interest on the strike has fallen below 120,000 to just 111,818 contracts. Of course, as widely theorized, Gill might just be rolling out his calls to a later expiration. But only Roaring Kitty himself can accurately contextualize these attention-grabbing moves.

As a side benefit, Roaring Kitty's antics have allowed GameStop to raise additional liquidity in recent days, with its cash coffers now swelling to over $4 billion. This sizable war chest has prompted Citron Research's Andrew Left to close out his short position against GameStop.