** Shares of aerospace and space travel company Virgin Galactic SPCE.N surge 32.5% to $8.19 premarket, set to open at its highest in over 22 months, if gains hold

** SPCE surged 36.4% on Friday, with retail traders buying net $10.79 mln worth of stock in the biggest one-day move since 2022, per Vanda Research data

** Stock is the #1 trending ticker on retail investor forum Stocktwits; also the most trending ticker on Reddit forum r/WallStreetBets, according to Germany-based data group Breakout Point

** Ivan Cosovic, managing director of Breakout Point, says retail investors have rallied around SPCE for many reasons, like some seeing it as a proxy for SpaceX SPCX.O, company specific developments or a potential short squeeze

** Also, "a sizeable camp of skeptics says this is nonsensical and is just ticker confusion case," Cosovic says, referring to SpaceX's proposed ticker of "SPCX"

** Space-related stocks have rallied recently after Elon Musk's SpaceX in May unveiled its filing for an initial public offering (IPO)

** As of last close, SPCE has rallied more than 92% YTD