GameStop stock influencer Roaring Kitty may lose access to E-Trade, report says

Enlarge / Keith Gill, known on Reddit under the pseudonym DeepFuckingValue and as Roaring Kitty, is seen on a fragment of a YouTube video. (credit: SOPA Images / Contributor | LightRocket)

E-Trade is apparently struggling to balance the risks and rewards of allowing Keith Gill to continue trading volatile meme stocks on its platform, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The meme-stock influencer known as "Roaring Kitty" and "DeepF—Value" is considered legendary for instantly skyrocketing the price of stocks, notably GameStop, most recently with a single tweet.

E-Trade is concerned, according to The Journal's insider sources, that on the one hand, Gill's social media posts are potentially illegally manipulating the market—and possibly putting others' investments at risk. But on the other, the platform worries that restricting Gill's trading could incite a boycott fueled by his "meme army" closing their accounts "in solidarity." That could also sharply impact trading on the platform, sources said.