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- Keith Gill may face an E-Trade ban, sources told The Wall Street Journal.
- A post to Gill's Reddit account seemed to show he had a $116 million position in GameStop.
- E-Trade, owned by Morgan Stanley, is said to be worried about the prospect of stock manipulation.
Keith Gill, also known on social media as "Roaring Kitty" or "DeepFuckingValue," could get barred from E-Trade after his apparent disclosure of a huge stake in GameStop caused the stock price to soar.
That's according to a Monday report in The Wall Street Journal, which cited unnamed people familiar with the situation at E-Trade, a trading platform owned by Morgan Stanley.
The unnamed sources said the prominent meme-stock trader sparked concern about the possibility of stock manipulation after he bought a bunch of GameStop options shortly before breaking his three-year social-media silence last month.
Prior to last month, Gill had not posted to his social-media accounts since 2021. Then, on May 12, he began making cryptic posts on X. After he reemerged, GameStop surged yet again.
Then, on Sunday night, a Reddit account of Gill's shared a screenshot of an E-Trade account that appeared to show he had a $116 million position in GameStop, triggering another frenzy that caused the meme stock to soar.
The Journal also reported that the Massachusetts securities division was examining Gill's actions. The securities division didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.
The Journal reported no decision had been made yet on whether to stop Gill from trading on the platform. People familiar with internal discussions told the outlet that they were still weighing whether Gill engaged in manipulation and that the platform was concerned about losing customers — and the reaction of Gill's fans — if he were to be barred.
Morgan Stanley declined to comment when reached by Business Insider. Gill didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.
Shortly after the Journal reported on the possibility Gill might be barred from E-Trade, one of Gill's Reddit accounts posted another screenshot suggesting he had maintained his position in GameStop on Monday, even as the value of his stake seemingly jumped from $116 million to $140 million in less than a day.