Wall Street is again experiencing a GameStop frenzy after Roaring Kitty made a significant social media debut yesterday. Interestingly, Citron Research is increasing its short positions again despite experiencing severe pressure during the 2021 GameStop (NYSE: GME) surge.
Andrew Left, founder of Citron Research Constructing GameStop Shorts
The founder of Citron Research, Andrew Left, opened a new short position against GameStop Corp. on Monday following a 75% increase in the company’s stock price. The increase came after five million GameStop shares were disclosed by Keith Gill, a well-known investor and meme stock influencer on Reddit who goes by the handle DeepF—ing Value.
I was declared in May that it was shorting the company’s stock. In an interview with Bloomberg, Left stated, “I have covered my short from May and then re-shorted it today,” adding that the current position is lower than his prior ones but not revealing its exact value.
Due to volatility, GameStop’s early trading surge increased its market capitalization by about $6 billion and forced a trade pause. The stock was up more than thirty per cent by Monday afternoon, although it pared back part of the gains once trading resumed.
Will the Meme Stocks Madness Continue?
The return of Keith Gill, a.k.a. “Roaring Kitty” on X, to social media has caused meme stocks to take the stock market by storm once more. Gill, who rose to prominence in 2021 by organizing Reddit users who were retail traders, ignited the most recent trading frenzy on June 2nd when he posted about the struggling video game business. “He could easily be a manager of hedge funds,” Citron Research founder Andrew Left remarked.
Left’s pessimistic wager on GameStop caused him to suffer large losses during the preceding meme stock scandal. Citron Research has also been involved in a U.S. Justice Department inquiry into short selling by research firms and hedge funds.
As of the time of writing, the GameStop ($GME) meme coin is down 6%, while the GME stock finished Monday’s trading session up 21% at $28.00.