Individual Traders Pile Back into Volatile Markets as Meme-Stock Mania Flares

Nobody saw it coming, and now everyone wants in.

Animal spirits are awakening among the retail crowd in midsummer. Individual investors have been piling into the risky fringe of the market, from freshly minted stocks to their long-time favorite meme names. The urge to make quick money has promoted small-fry investors to pick up an old habit of trading call options -- weeks after they paid near-record premiums for bearish puts versus calls.

Around the market's trough in June, retail investors gave up on their long-held bullish stance, selling shares at the fastest pace in almost two years, according to data tracked by JPMorgan.