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E-Trade is having internal discussions about whether to ban Keith Gill – the meme stock trader who just disclosed a large position in GameStop – from the trading platform due to concerns about potential market manipulation, reported Monday the Wall Street Journal.
The brokerage house, owned by Morgan Stanleyhas not yet made a decision, the Journal said, citing people familiar with the cabinet deliberations.
GameStop shares climbed early Monday after Gill, who goes by “DeepF——Value” on Reddit, posted a screenshot of what could be his portfolio containing a significant amount of common stock and GameStop call options. The meme stock leader holds 5 million shares of GameStop and a position of 120,000 call options with a $20 strike price that expire June 21, purchased for about $5.68 each, capture shows screen.
E-Trade declined to comment to CNBC, noting that “we do not publicly discuss our clients’ individual activity.”
Morgan Stanley’s global financial crime unit and an outside advisor began debating whether to cancel Gill’s account as the firm monitored his account activity, the Journal said.
The brokerage firm discovered that in May, Gill had purchased call options before posting on social media platform means he probably made a profit.
The stock meme mania in 2021 has led to a series of congressional hearings, including Gill’s testimony, around broker-dealer practices and the gamification of retail stock trading. Gill also faced several class action lawsuits, including one alleging that he pretended to be a novice trader when he was a licensed professional.
Gill worked as a marketing and financial education employee at MassMutual in 2019 and 2020.
— Click here to read the WSJ story.
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