It was a day when Castor Maritime's shares edged ever so close to the magic $1 mark.

And it was a day when Zim Integrated Shipping Services spent an entire morning trading above its $15 initial public offering price.

Two very different companies, but two welcome developments amid strange times for the broader stock market.

Castor once again seems to have been embraced by the legion of citizen investors who are teaming up on Reddit and other investor boards to pump up share prices of downtrodden stocks.