Roaring Kitty Phenomenon: Crazy Traders Are Betting That GameStop Shares Will Rise Over $100 In The Next Few Hours

With Keith Gill, the OG meme stock veteran who is more popularly known by the moniker Roaring Kitty, apparently content to bide his time for a more opportune moment to make his move, GameStop shares are on the verge of creating a new losing streak ahead of the largest option expiration event on record.

The Interplay Between Roaring Kitty And The GameStop Stock

A few days back, Gill revealed that he 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 revelation ignited bouts of heightened momentum in GameStop shares, with bullish expectations reaching a fever pitch ahead of Roaring Kitty's first live stream event in over three years. That event, however, turned out to be a dud, with nary a significant pronouncement from the OG meme stock veteran.

Meanwhile, as we noted in a dedicated post last week, Roaring Kitty's $20 calls that expire on the 21st of June began to see heavy selling volume from the 12th of June, prompting widespread chatter that Gill was either closing or rolling out his GameStop calls ahead of their upcoming expiration. By the 13th of June, the open interest on those calls had fallen below the 120,000 level, indicating definitive liquidation on Roaring Kitty's part.

Then, on last Thursday, Roaring Kitty finally revealed that he had sold all of his call options and that he now owns 9.001 million GameStop shares, up from his original 5 million shares. He also retains $6.34 million in cash.

GameStop Is Currently A Game Of Nerves

As stated earlier, tomorrow's OpEx event is the largest on record, with over $5.1 trillion in notional options exposure set to expire.

Meanwhile, GameStop's options are going "wonky" ahead of tomorrow's expiration. For instance, The $125 calls that expire tomorrow just printed an implied volatility (IV) of 1,127 percent today, which indicates heightened demand and translates into very juicy premium for options sellers. This is all the more striking given the fact that the stock is currently trading at the $24 handle. Said differently, these traders are betting that GameStop shares will rise by over a $100 in the next few hours, which appears a near impossibility barring another shock move from Roaring Kitty.

Of course, if Roaring Kitty does not make a significant move soon, GameStop shares are likely to end today's trading session in the red, which will constitute a new losing streak for the stock during the ongoing meme stock mania 2.0.