I wonder how much is due to the average joe getting into trading since it's becoming easier and easier to invest money and as it is it looks like free money.
It is retail investors, but to create the momentum that drives the frenzy you need a lot of cash rushing in at the same time. Like with GameStop it was all over the news, there just isn't the same level of media hype to cause the run up. I bet what tips it into a feeding frenzy is a massive institutional investor inflow which creates enough of an outsized move to then attract guppy retail investors who end up driving the craziness and holding the bag. It's part natural behavior, part manipulation.