Donald Trump’s Truth Social stock market valuation is now greater than the estimated value of Elon Musk’s X after an extraordinary rally ahead of next week’s election.

Shares in Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), the former president’s tiny social media empire, rose 8.8% on Tuesday. Trading of the stock was suspended several times due to volatility.

TMTG has surged in recent weeks, tripling its value this month alone, as Trump courted voters during the final stage of the presidential campaign. Trump’s majority stake is currently worth about $5.9bn.

The firm’s market overall valuation stood at $10.3bn as Wall Street closed on Tuesday, greater than the estimated $9.4bn valuation of X, formerly Twitter.

While the social network was taken private two years ago and renamed X by Musk, the world’s richest man, its valuation is derived from estimates released by the investment giant Fidelity, one of its shareholders.

X remains a far bigger social network than Truth Social. It received 706.2m visits last month, according to Similarweb, while Truth Social received 13.5m.

Investors in TMTG seem unbothered by such comparisons. The firm’s valuation is now greater than that of the radio giant SiriusXM, which has some 33 million subscribers and reported profits of $316m in the second quarter. TMTG posted a net loss of $16.4m over the same period.

Trump’s fledgling company first staged a remarkable rally in the spring, joining the ranks of so-called “meme stocks” such as the video games retailer GameStop, which rattled Wall Street by staging unexpected, volatile rallies as day traders piled in.

As with GameStop, however, the peak TMTG scaled during its rapid rally set the stage for an almighty crash. The group’s shares, which rose above $66 in March, stooped to $12.15 last month.

But, with presidential election polls closely tied, and betting markets putting Trump ahead in the contest, TMTG recovered. Its market valuation has quadrupled since shares in the firm hit their September low.