Meme stock ‘revolution’ gets its own ETF as Roundhill Investments targets retail investors

GameStop and AMC were the early faces of the meme stock revolution as retail investors traded these shares in a viral frenzy even if there wasn’t factual news. 

Famously, investor Roaring Kitty, also known as Keith Gill and Deep-F…value, who had gone quiet for three years, returned to social media in June 2024 with a Reddit post that showed a ledger of GameStop holdings worth millions of dollars. The stock soared 30% after the post. 

Keith Gill, known on Reddit under the pseudonym DeepF…Value and as Roaring Kitty, is seen on a fragment of a YouTube video. (Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket  / Getty Images)

He also posted on X a reverse green card from the game Uno. While he didn’t specify the meaning, in the stock meme world it can reportedly signal a comeback.

ROARING KITTY RETURNS WITH GAMESTOP BOOM

While the GME thread has died down, investors now have an exchange-traded fund for the next class of meme stocks: Opendoor Technologies, Plug Power, and Applied Digital Corp, which was rolled out Wednesday by Roundhill Investments. 

“Meme stocks started as a rebellion but have grown into a revolution,” said Dave Mazza, CEO of Roundhill Investments, in the announcement. “From GameStop to AMC and beyond, retail investors have proven that they are here to stay as a permanent force in the market. With MEME, we offer investors a tool to capture that power through an actively managed ETF that can rotate quickly into the stocks dominating the conversation today.” 

HOW WEALTHY INVESTORS ARE USING ETFS

A cyclist rides his bike by an AMC theater in San Francisco.  (Justin Sullivan  / Getty Images)

Trading under the ticker aptly named MEME, the firm notes investors can use the ETF “whether as a momentum-driven trade for those seeking to ride retail enthusiasm, or as a hedge against a short book,” which are bets a stock will fall. 

In the case of Opendoor Technologies, that stock is up 430% this year but has traded in a range of $0.51 to $10.87 per share. Its retail investors, known as the “Open Army,” according to The Wall Street Journal, have powered shake-ups in the C-suite and strategy moves for the digital home flipping company. It is not profitable. 

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Other stocks in MEME include Hims & Hers Health, Quantum Computing and Bloom Energy, to name a few.