Reddit used a troll farm. My guess Korean or Chinese. They spammed social media to hype it, trying to increase small investment. So foreign hedges could profit more. Not only did they profit big wallstreet sooner did. It became easier to pump and dump. Tech firms behind social media were also in on the movement where multimillionaires profited. Some of the bullshit was directly linked to the bullshit apps suckering small investors. It increased the volume on their services, until they halted trades, many suckered small investors on questionable services sold, where real time trades aren't happening in real time, the apps are behind the market, cheating investors out of profit on volatile stock movements, further taking massive rakes from any trading, also using other options to prevent fully paying out. Some of the apps are linked into tech firms driving the surge and investment hedges pumping and dumping.

It wasn't small investment causing the surge it was the pasty.

Of course some small investors profited but more lost out because they aren't the real winners here.