Retail traders' favorite Mullen Automotive rises again

** Shares of electric vehicle maker Mullen Automotive MULN rise 7.5% to $0.24 premarket, most traded across U.S. stock exchanges by 5:30 a.m. ET

** Stock jumped 29% on Thursday as co announced a $25 mln share buyback plan

** MULN was the most traded stock by retail traders in Thursday's session, J.P.Morgan data showed, followed by Tesla TSLA which typically holds the top spot on most days

** Individual investors' attention is shifting to EV firms from AI stocks earlier in the year, Vanda Research said this week

** Mullen's open interest put to call ratio stood at 0.1, indicating a bullish investor sentiment

** In general, the put/call ratio moves inversely to the performance of equities. When investors are bullish and speculation in calls gets excessive, the ratio will be low

** About 21.9% of MULN shares are under short position, down from 49% on June 20, Ortex data showed

** MULN shares have more than doubled this year; YTD stock has lost 97% of its value