Explainer: Why are meme stocks on Wall Street rallying again?

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ALSO READ: US stocks gain after producer prices data, Jerome Powell’s comments With colorful YouTube streams and Reddit posts, Gill made the bull case for GameStop in 2021, helping attract a flood of retail cash into the company. In Gill's 2021 testimony to Congress, he denied the notion that he used social media to profit by promoting GameStop to unwitting investors. Videogame retailer GameStop has rallied more than 139% since Friday close through Tuesday afternoon, set to add more than $9 billion to its market value.

Theatre chain AMC Entertainment has climbed more than 130% following the two-day rally. The highly shorted shares were set for their best 2-day gains since January 2021. Still, both remain well below the 2021 highs.

The pair was also the two most traded stocks by retail investors on Monday, as per J.P. Morgan. Retail traders also pumped up other highly shorted stocks including solar firm SunPower Corp, headphones maker Koss Corp and storage container maker Tupperware Brands , sending them soaring between 24% and 83%.

Retail market order as a percentage of total market volume increased to 17.5% on May 13 from 14.1% on May 1, J.P.Morgan data showed. Meme stocks refer to certain company shares that have been boosted by retail investors using trading platforms and social media investment advice. It burst into the open during 2021 when the COVID-19 lockdowns boosted savings, policy stimulus put cash into people's pockets and extremely low interest rates pushed investors to the stock market.