Roaring Kitty's Meme Magic: Unity Stock Soars with Viral GIF

Roaring Kitty Boosts Unity Software Stock With Cryptic Post

Stock trader Keith Gill, widely recognized under the moniker “Roaring Kitty,” fueled an unexpected surge in a gaming stock on Thursday, not linked to GameStop as one might expect. Instead, Unity Software shares showed a significant hike after Gill ambiguously posted a GIF, which traders seemingly decoded as a nod to the game technology corporation.

A Meme Post Propels the Stock Market

The particular GIF, featuring comedian Dave Chappelle parodying musician Rick James in a 2004 episode from "Chappelle’s Show," humorously represents Hollywood stories associated with James. A notable association is a nod to his 1983 song, "Unity." Traders ostensibly linked this to Unity Software, causing the stock value of the company, known for its pervasive Unity software engine, to increase by over 8% during the pre-market trading phase.

The stock growth sustained even after markets commenced trading, with Unity, trading under the ticker U on the NYSE, now listed at $24.51—a gain of almost 9%.

Impact Beyond Traditional Markets

The influence of Roaring Kitty's post extended beyond the conventional markets, with more than 3.4 million views on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter). Curiously, this also spurred a surge in value for a Unity-centric meme coin on the Solana blockchain, showing a growth of over 200% within the previous 24 hours.

Gill hasn't been a stranger to affecting financial market trends--his enigmatic posts have previously moved market values in varying directions. Rising to prominence in 2021, Gill became a notable figure during the GameStop short squeeze debacle, highlighting his increasingly influential role in trading communities.

Meme coins and shares team up to create market fluctuations, a phenomenon earlier observed in December, with an edited Time magazine cover post boosting GameStop shares and relevant meme coins.

His posts can play the reverse role as well—on one occasion, Gill's manipulated image from "Toy Story" led traders to believe he was selling shares of pet product retailer, Chewy. This led to Chewy’s shares dropping almost 4% within mere minutes, recovering later to approximately the previous price.

Gill, embroiled in the GameStop frenzy, drew scrutiny from regulators and was subsequently summoned to testify to the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services in 2021.

Current Stock Statuses

GameStop shares, with Gill holding around 9 million shares as of late June (as indicated by his recent Reddit update), experienced a slight drop by approximately 1%, priced at $31.10 per share. The GameStop-linked GME meme coin on Solana, nevertheless, showed an encouraging rise of almost 13% in the last 24 hours.

Despite this surge, the Unity Software stock price has only risen from a recent slump of $17.29, not exceeding its 2024 record price of $39.29, now sitting at a stable value of $24.51.