The story of the surprise rise in GameStop shares, which led to similar moves for other companies including Odeon Cinemas-owner AMC, sparked congressional hearings about market manipulation and inspired the 2023 movie “Dumb Money”, which starred Paul Dano and Seth Rogen.

Mr Gill told Congress, external he used social media for fun and called the idea he was pushing the shares on unwitting investors “preposterous”.

He has not posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, since mid 2021.

Then on Sunday Mr Gill posted, external a drawing of a man leaning forward in a chair, as if gearing up for action.

He later followed up with two posts on Monday morning, which appeared to allude to his return.

The meme-stock phenomenon has been part of a wider increase in trading by retail investors – people not working for investment houses or other private firms.

Analysts had argued the original rise of meme stocks was driven by the surge in savings and time many households had during the pandemic, thanks to government support programmes and the shutdown of many in-person activities.

However with markets rising again this year, trading firms such as Charles Schwab and Robinhood have reported another uptick in new accounts and activity by retail investors.