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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 possible market manipulation, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
The brokerage company owned by Morgan Stanleyhas not yet made a decision, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the company's internal deliberations.
GameStop shares shot up early Monday after Gill, who goes by the handle “DeepF——Value” on Reddit, posted a screenshot of his portfolio that could include a significant amount of GameStop common stock and call options. The meme stock leader holds 5 million GameStop shares and a position of 120,000 call options with a $20 strike price expiring on June 21, purchased for about $5.68 apiece, the screenshot shows.
E-Trade declined to comment to CNBC, noting: “We do not publicly discuss our clients' individual activities.”
Morgan Stanley's global financial crimes division and outside counsel began discussing whether to close Gill's account as the firm monitored his account activity, the Journal reported.
The brokerage found that Gill bought call options in May before posting on social media platform X, the Journal reported. Some of those contracts expired the same week, meaning he likely made a profit.
The 2021 meme stock craze led to a series of congressional hearings, where Gill also testified, on brokerage practices and the gamification of retail stock trading. Gill also faced several class action lawsuits, including one alleging that he posed as an inexperienced trader despite being a licensed professional.
Gill worked as a marketing and financial education associate at MassMutual in 2019 and 2020.
— Click here to read the WSJ article.