Who is Keith Gill, what are meme stocks, and what is going on with GameStop?

On Sunday, Keith Gill, known online as "Roaring Kitty," posted a simple graphic on his X page marking the end of a three-year hiatus from the internet. The following day, GameStop stock value soared up to 118%, its largest intraday gain in over three years according to Business Insider. On Tuesday GameStop stock rose over 60%.

Other stocks, commonly called "meme stocks" such as the movie theatre chain AMC have also seen significant growth over the past couple of days, with Yahoo Finance referring to the growth as a "meme stock frenzy."

Here is everything you need to know about Gill, meme stocks, and what is going on with GameStop stocks.

What are meme stocks?

A meme stock is defined by NerdWallet as a "share of a company that quickly jumps in price due to the attention of a dedicated online following."

Meme stocks will typically gain viral attention through online discussion threads on websites such as Reddit where independent, unorganized users will work together to identify a stock and promote it, per Investopedia.

Specific stocks, such as GameStop, are often targeted as meme stocks due to hedge funds' short positions in those companies. GameStop (GME) was the first successful meme stock, according to NerdWallet, which says that while it is possible to make money in meme stocks, as we saw with GameStop in 2021, it can be risky and is all about timing the market.

Roaring Kitty and the 2021 GameStop stock surge

Gill, 37, is a YouTuber and trader who gained prominence in January 2021 when he played a key role in the surge of GameStop stock value.

According to Investopedia, Gill was born in 1986 in Brockton, Massachusetts. He studied accounting at Stonehill College in Easton and eventually went on to work as a financial analyst.

Online, Gill is known as "Roaring Kitty" on YouTube and X, formerly Twitter, and "DeepF--kingValue" on Reddit. He uses YouTube to share his "daily routine of tracking stocks and performing investment research." His X bio reads, "A method for hunting stocks and pouncing on investment opportunities. ... For educational purposes only."

In 2019, according to Investopedia, he joined Reddit and began posting on the popular investing community r/WallStreetBets. He shared his thoughts about GameStop on Reddit and YouTube, expressing why he believed the company was undervalued. He invested over $50,000 into GameStop and as he continued to post about it more people joined him, eventually causing the stock price's value to skyrocket to $483 in January 2021.

At that time Gill's original investment was valued at almost $48 million.

Gill and his former employer faced lawsuits in 2021 as a result of the GameStop surge, per Bustle.

When the GameStop ordeal died down, Gill went quiet online, not posting for three years until this past Sunday.

The movie "Dumb Money," much of which was filmed around New Jersey in 2022, details this whole situation, defined by its IMDB page as a "David vs. Goliath tale about everyday people who flipped the script on Wall Street and got rich by turning GameStop (the video-game store) into the world's hottest company."

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GameStop shares on the rise again

Now, in 2024, Gill has reentered the realm of the internet and helped launch another meme-stock saga.

On Sunday he posted a sketch on his X account @TheRoaringKitty of a man sitting in a chair and leaning forward while holding what appears to be a video game controller, his first post since June 18, 2021. This post has since garnered over 124,000 likes and 25 million views.

Then, on Monday, GameStop stock hit a one-year high, up over 180% over the last month, per Yahoo Finance. On Monday, the stock rose as high as 110% and was halted several times throughout the day for volatility.

While the stock's value has grown immensely since Gill's return to the internet, it has not reached anywhere near the high it hit back in 2021.

AMC stock rose over 100% on Tuesday along with heavily shorted stocks SunPower, Beyond Meat and the Children's Place, which all have seen significant increases in their stock value in recent days.

Google Trends reported over a million searches for "AMC stock" on Monday.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: GameStop stock price: What to know about Keith Gill, 'meme stocks'