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The nihilism of r/wallstreetbets

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Re: The nihilism of r/wallstreetbets

#91

Post by CameronNemo »

missedthecue wrote: post #67
aaahayatav wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I highly suspect the reason for this is because there is less income security for the young generation in 2021 compared to 1999. In 1999, people under 40 were gambling large sums that, if lost, could be made back through x months of work. In 2021, people under 40 are gambling any random ad hoc payment they receive in the attempt of calling it a career. The reason? 10% of our country have great jobs, and the rest have…

The median bottom quintile of incomes is higher today in real terms than is was in the 1990s, and the median income is higher as well. https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-p...

How are you measuring real income? Inflation has many measurements and benchmarks.

Two large expenses, health and housing, have skyrocketed in the past two decades.

Re: The nihilism of r/wallstreetbets

#92

Post by greenonions »

ThisIsTheWay wrote: post #27
gchokov wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Non sense.

> 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 wi…

Also, I think it's overlooked how much of the banter on wallstreetbets does not necessarily dictate how participants invest. There are probably many people who read, joke, and occasionally make a risky investment, but who otherwise maintain a relatively conservative portfolio. Wallstreetbets is just the most entertaining way to casually pick up knowledge on the subject.

Re: The nihilism of r/wallstreetbets

#93

Post by knowaveragejoe »

supernova87a wrote: post #75
michael1999 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Options generate leverage. Potentially lots of leverage. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-01-25/the-ga...

But who's backing those options with the actual stock to the tune of $13B per day?

Market makers?

Re: The nihilism of r/wallstreetbets

#94

Post by nabla9 »

vorpalhex wrote: post #36

This post is a great tutorial in why we shouldn't derive meaning from expressed language. Imagine if you sat in a room of software engineers and tried to make conclusions about their life views based on their jargon: "I think what they're saying is you just need to form a single value store and react to it, dividing life into small composable micro components that are DRY. We can really comprehend how this minimalism…

>Language like WSB uses is meant to frustrate outsiders and limit posers.

This is true, but WSB is also fundamentally nihilistic.

4Chan started as teenage boys from middle class families saying bad things for and fun trolling for fun. "haha lol normies take it seriously" Typical teenage nihilism that is normally not very harmful. Then it gradually escalated into really hurting people and crazy people joining. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kill_All_Normies

Re: The nihilism of r/wallstreetbets

#95

Post by jsonne »

xwdv wrote: post #69

I understand the nihilism. When you start earning vast sums of money very quickly, and see other people do the same, you start getting a sense that money isn’t really worth working all that hard for. I’ve been making about 5k or 6k a week regularly this past year in the stock market with little effort, through stock appreciation and selling options. It definitely makes me feel less motivated to do my job, but the one…

This is certainly part of it too and something I wish I expanded on more. When you can make so much money without really doing much hard work can seem like a suckers game.

Re: The nihilism of r/wallstreetbets

#96

Post by cbozeman »

logicslave wrote: post #2

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.

This is what's really pissing off a lot of people who think they're "somebodies" in the finance world.

A bunch of people who didn't attend Columbia, Harvard, and Yale Business Schools are using a fucking phone app to do what only they used to be able to do - manipulate the market. And its pissing them off. For decades, these arrogant little shits were told they were the Masters of the Universe.

Now they're finding out firsthand that it just ain't so, and their egos can't handle it.

Re: The nihilism of r/wallstreetbets

#97

Post by dahdum »

davidw wrote: post #8

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" ?

Collectively I doubt WSB posters alone moved GME to any large degree, but the media attention, feuds, and popular memes allowed them to punch well above their weight.

Attracting attention about GME, a stock with more shares sold short than exist, gave a much larger pool of players a rallying cry to drive a short squeeze.

Re: The nihilism of r/wallstreetbets

#98

Post by hamolton »

It seems like a lot of WSB stock runs are amplified by automated trading strategies. Between the information that hedge funds get from Robinhood and the feeds I'm sure they might have from Reddit, they should have good visibility on the trends of these retail investors.

Re: The nihilism of r/wallstreetbets

#99

Post by quineoa »

aynyc wrote: post #85
ookblah wrote: post #13

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…

Well, you can't really change the odds or outcome of fantasy footballs or casinos. But at WSB, with enough retards (WSB terms), they can change the outcome.

Is it necessary to replicate the insensitive language here? I suppose the point could have come across without adopting the WSB usage in the same way.

Re: The nihilism of r/wallstreetbets

#100

Post by arcticbull »

nostromo wrote: post #82
vorpalhex wrote: post #36

This post is a great tutorial in why we shouldn't derive meaning from expressed language. Imagine if you sat in a room of software engineers and tried to make conclusions about their life views based on their jargon: "I think what they're saying is you just need to form a single value store and react to it, dividing life into small composable micro components that are DRY. We can really comprehend how this minimalism…

This comment reads like a "they're really playing 4-dimensional chess" moment. There are definitely some smart people on wsb, but I very much doubt the use of silly language (like, say, calling bears "gay bears") is anything other than users being intentionally ridiculous and funny.

Stonks only go up. Why be a bear if stonks only go up? Makes no sense.

[edit] to be clear, I'm parroting WSB.

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