Trading popular meme stocks such as Bed Bath & Beyond, GameStop, AMC, and Blackberry during their latest resurgence has a lot in common with putting a quarter in a slot machine, strategists warn.

"It's speculation, absolutely," Matt Miskin, John Hancock co-chief investment strategist, said on Yahoo Finance Live (video above) about the latest meme moves. "We want to find high-quality income for clients. That's what we are honing in on instead of speculating in the gambling part of the markets."

Miskin attributed the latest frenzied meme stock action to traders speculating on the path ahead of markets and Federal Reserve rate hikes.

“This is a late-cycle dynamic,” Miskin explained. “This is a sentiment indicator in our view. The fact that people are willing to throw capital around, trade like this, gamble like this — this is not usually something you see when the Fed is done raising rates. In our view, that means unfortunately the Fed will keep raising rates.”

There's one meme stock, in particular, that depicts the madness of the current moment.

Shares of retailer Bed Bath & Beyond — which is on the brink of potential financial chaos — have exploded 386% so far in August as retail investors rally around the meme stock. Bed Bath & Beyond stock skyrocketed more than 70% in intraday trading on Tuesday amid a massive short squeeze.

BBBY stock finished Tuesday's volatile session up 31%, and the stock rose another 18% as of 1:37 p.m. ET on Wednesday.

The insane gains for Bed Bath & Bath & Beyond appear to have been triggered by a couple of red meat items for the enthusiastic meme stock community, led by redditors on the r/wallstreetbets message board.

First, GameStop Chairman Ryan Cohen purchased out-of-the-money call options on 1.6 million shares of Bed Bath & Beyond stock with strike prices between $60 and $80, according to a new regulatory filing released Monday.

In other words, Cohen — who attacked Bed Bath & Beyond earlier this year — is betting the stock will break through $60 and he will make a ton of money.