I woke up to watch RoaringKitty’s live stream at 2.30am last Saturday along with 650,000 others. All I lost was sleep and maybe a few brain cells, but for others it was another painful lesson about the difference between gambling and investing.

The much-anticipated event marked the first public appearance of Keith Gill, a.k.a. “RoaringKitty”, the protagonist behind the 2021 meme stock frenzy, after a three-year hiatus.

The return of GameStop investor RoaringKitty, aka Keith Gill, looks to be more of a dead cat bounce, with his devout followers likely to take hefty losses.Credit: YouTube

When Gill announced the livestream the previous day, accompanied by a screenshot showing he had purchased $500 million worth of shares (and more in options) in GameStop, shares rocketed more than 50 per cent.

It was the second time in less than a month the failing brick-and-mortar games retailer had pumped, the first 200 per cent jump occurring mid-May after Gill posted a picture of a man leaning forward in a chair on X. Welcome to the world of meme stocks.

“Gill has found a unique way to game market structure – he can use his influence to push a stock higher,” says Chris Weston, head of research at trading platform Pepperstone.

Gill was on the verge of becoming a billionaire that morning, but like most sequels, the return failed to live up to expectations.

As shares roared to life in the premarket session, in a highly unusual move GameStop........

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