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Imagine a subreddit called "roulettebets". Someone posts: 36x gain!!!1 And then someone posts: I lost everything. Should that be a motivation to spend all your money playing roulette?
My general take on these shows is that you get a bunch of men in their 30s, put them in a gym where the blood is flowing and they’re thinking about how their life compares, and put a TV in front of them with stock advice. Bam! Manipulation.
If you had a short position and a TV show, wouldn’t you want to convince other people that your short position is correct? And if you could mobilize more people to take a long position, couldn’t you make money that way, too?
Here is some useful context for this article about recent behavior from members of wallstreetbets: https://www.wired.com/story/gamestop-stock-wall-street-bets-... https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-22/gamestop-...
This Bloomberg article actually inspired me to write this and provide additional context on the "why" this place even exists in the first place.
I don't know anything about WSB, but how does: > It’s a bunch of autistic losers that live in their mom’s basement who are gambling what little money they have to try and become rich to live lifestyles of hedonism square with "These people were involved in very meaningfully moving a stock price around" ?
> On the surface, it seems really weird but it’s mostly a type of gallows humor that permeates a lot of especially young millennials and zennial men.
The key is "the basic surface-level story" and "it's mostly a type of gallows humor". It's a story or myth, not reality. You'll see a lot of this self-deprecating humor on other 4chan-adjacent communities.
Also, I do not think that Jeromy Sonne is speaking from a position of experience with the wsb community. He has an entry-level understanding of internet communities but the article is mostly fluff and speculation instead of first-hand knowledge or research. Plus, a lot of content on wsb is "artistic works of fiction and falsehood", just like 4chan.
uh, there's way too much analysis here lol. at it's core it's a fun distraction and people are gamblers. it's no different than fantasy football or going to your local casino. there's a big subset there that is obviously cash strapped and desperate. there are also people there with 6-7 figure net worths that are just passing the time. the DD is actually "okay" once you cut thru the lingo and I'd be willing to bet mos…
I think the cultural links with 4chan are interesting and non-obvious to someone who didn't grow up knowing about those sorts of communities.
Wall street bets is just exposing the facade of wallstreet. As more information about investing becomes available, hedge funds and investors will look increasingly less sophisticated. Platforms like Robinhood will erode their edge by increasing liquidity, lowering transaction costs, and providing access to more exotic investments and financial derivatives.
Non sense.
Really great contribution there, appreciate you sharing your thoughts and furthering the conversation.
What LogicSlave said is dead on accurate. Lowering the barrier to market entry has empowered millions of people to make their money work for them. Is some of it unhealthy? Absolutely. But not all gamblers are addicts, and its not all counter-productive either. The downside is that many are jumping in without fully understanding the risks, but in my opinion, the best way to learn the game is to play. Investopedia fantasy portfolios are a risk free way to try it out, but those have been around for decades and few people use it as an opportunity to learn the market.
Wall street bets is just exposing the facade of wallstreet. As more information about investing becomes available, hedge funds and investors will look increasingly less sophisticated. Platforms like Robinhood will erode their edge by increasing liquidity, lowering transaction costs, and providing access to more exotic investments and financial derivatives.
I don't understand why people think /r/wallstreetbets is really that interesting or provides insight into actual wall street? Anyone who knows anything about actual options trading / building strategies knows these people are idiots. Sure, there's a lot of money flowing around - but most people don't realize that to many $60k is pocket change.
But as someone who spent most of their career running sizeable vol books, there are a few people on /r/wsb who do understand options, or at least they understand gamma, which is more than I can say for 90% of the morons on Twitter.
But even on /r/wsb there are clearly people who are trading at proper buyside shops. You can tell by the way they write, the things they say, and the knowledge they hold. And yet they come to /r/wsb for some of the same reasons that TFA highlights.
Taking credit card advances to YOLO into short-dated OTM call options is drug-addict level desperation. People joke about YOLOing their inheritance - and I suspect there’s some reality to it. Their parents’ entire life’s wealth can’t dig them out of whatever hole their in.
The CNBC guys freaking out is incredible. Their Cramer feud is gold. But... this trend is different than people picking random internet stocks in the 90s. It’s desperate.