Newegg Commerce (NEGG 29.96%) is off to the races again. The online retailer posted incredible price gains in July and early August, followed by a sharp drawdown in the last three weeks. On Thursday, the stock was back to its old tricks with a 26.7% single-day gain as of 3 p.m. ET.

Meme stock action, with a twist

Like the momentous rise and fall in recent months, Newegg’s fresh surge looks like a meme stock rally — with some unique quirks.

The stock’s short-selling ratio is high, inspiring dreams of quick short-squeeze rallies when share prices start to move higher. I see no game-changing news in Newegg’s press center, or the company’s official blog. The only potentially market-moving news source would be Newegg’s financial filings, where I found independent investor Vladimir Galkin reporting another purchase of Newegg shares.

Galkin’s Newegg stake now consists of 3.6 million shares, up from 3.52 million on Aug. 19. He controls 17.6% of the stock’s shareholder votes at this point and should be considered a powerful voice in Newegg’s boardroom. Not that he holds a seat there, but large shareholders have ways to make their opinions known anyway.

That’s pretty much it. Scouring the usual online news media you often see in meme stock boosts, there hasn’t been much talk about Newegg on X or Reddit today.

So Newegg’s stock is soaring almost purely because Vladimir Galkin is boosting his ownership again. It’s a somewhat unusual angle on the classic meme stock idea, but the results are the same.

Image source: Getty Images.

Vladimir Galkin’s strategy

It’s important to note that Galkin’s claim to fame (and wealth) comes from his lucrative investments in Gamestop during the video game retailer’s meme stock peak. He is also a top shareholder in airline operator JetBlue Airways, which has acted like a meme stock recently.

Meme stock investing is what Galkin does, pulling strings and pushing buttons to boost social media chatter around the stocks he’s buying. And at this point, his strategy is famous enough that the stock buys themselves have market-moving power.

That’s all Newegg is doing today. The struggling e-tailer did not sign an important contract, nor did it start low-priced sales of the Next Big Thing in gaming hardware. It’s just another meme stock surge.