Reddit trader known as “Roaring Kitty,” defended his social media posts that caused a mania in GameStop stock last month in a testimonial released Wednesday, saying he was an individual investor trading solely on the basis of publicly available information.
The merchant, whose real name is Keith Gill, will testify before the Financial Services Committee of the United States House of Representatives on Thursday. In addition to defending his actions, Gill used his testimony to argue again why he is still optimistic about GameStop.
“GameStop’s stock price may have been a little ahead of itself last month, but I’m as optimistic as ever about a possible turnaround. In short, I like the stock,” said Gill in the comments. “I believed – and continue to believe – that GameStop has the potential to reinvent itself as the ultimate gamer destination within the booming $ 200 billion gaming industry.”
Through YouTube videos and Reddit posts, Gill – which is used by DeepF —— Value on Reddit and Roaring Kitty on YouTube – attracted an army of day traders who cheered on each other and piled into the physical video game stock and call options.
GameStop’s share price rose to $ 483 a share, after climbing more than 90% to around $ 46 a share at the moment.
“I believed the company was being dramatically undervalued by the market. The prevailing analysis of GameStop’s impending demise was simply wrong,” he said in the testimonial. “My investment skills had reached a level where I felt that sharing it publicly could help others.”
Gill’s testimony said he started buying GameStop stock in 2019 when the stock price fell due to disappointing earnings. Plus, Gill liked that famous investor Michael Burry was optimistic about GameStop.
“Thinking the stock was undervalued, I bought call options on June 7, 2019. I increased my position for much of 2019 and 2020 because as I continued to analyze the company and its 3 prospects, I got I am increasingly confident that the stock price was indeed dramatically undervalued, ”the testimony said.
Gill said the market underestimated GameStop’s growth prospects and overestimated the likelihood of the video game company going out of business. Gill believes GameStop can expand its digital capabilities and leverage its 60 million loyal members, the testimonial said.
The WallStreetBets star went on to say that social media platforms such as YouTube, Twitter and WallStreetBets on Reddit level the playing field for individual investors as they work together to build investment ideas.
“I was very clear that my channel was for educational purposes only, and my aggressive style of investing was probably not suitable for most people watching the channel,” said Gill. “Whether other individual investors bought the shares was irrelevant to my thesis – my focus was on the fundamentals of the company.”
Gill’s last post on Reddit showed that he made $ 7.8 million on GameStop. On Wednesday, a class action lawsuit was filed against Gill in federal court in Massachusetts, alleging that he was posing as a novice trader despite being a licensed professional.
While Gill worked as a marketing and financial education officer at MassMutual, he said he never sold securities for the company, nor was he a financial advisor.
“My investment in GameStop and my social media posts were entirely my own,” said Gill. “I didn’t ask anyone to buy or sell the stock for my own profit. I wasn’t part of a group that tried to create movements in the stock price. I’ve never had a financial relationship with a hedge fund. I had no information about GameStop except which was public. I didn’t know any people in the company and I never spoke to insiders. “
Gill will testify to Congress on Thursday at 12 p.m. ET on the GameStop trade controversy.
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