The sudden re-emergence of “Roaring Kitty” – aka Keith Gill – on social media triggered a huge surge in the price of GameStop shares that left short sellers facing losses approaching $1bn, according to a report by CNBC citing figures from data provider S3 Partners.

Gill, who once rallied an army of day traders to pile into the video game retailer in 2021, squeezing hedge funds and other short-sellers, posted a picture on social media platform X of a gamer leaning forward on a chair, which sent GameStop shares soaring by 74% and left short sellers with a market loss of $838m.

Including Monday’s losses, short sellers in GameStop have now lost $1.24bn in May alone, according to S3.

“Expect short covering in this stock as it already had a 100/100 squeeze score prior to today’s trading,” said Ihor Dusaniwsky, a Managing Director at S3.

The report cites data from FactSet in revealing that the current short position in GameStop shares amounts to more than 24% of the company's 'float' – stock that is freely available to trade.