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The nihilism of r/wallstreetbets

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Re: The nihilism of r/wallstreetbets

#51

Post by jsonne »

simpixelated wrote: post #45

Pretty good analysis, but I don't know if I agree with some of the final lines. Hard to see this as a "Molotov cocktail through the front window of the country and the global financial system". I mean they are literally playing by the rules of the financial system. This isn't Occupy Wall Street, or anything close to that. Sure, I get that they will declare bankruptcy and move on, but ultimately the major players of t…

Mostly a fringe benefit I think or some sort of minor act of rebellion against the system they feel screwed them over rather than some sort of organized protest like Occupy.

Re: The nihilism of r/wallstreetbets

#52

Post by aidenn0 »

some_furry wrote: post #18

> It’s a bunch of autistic losers Gross. How has this not been flagkilled for ableism yet?

It is describing the presented public image of r/WSB. The next paragraph makes it clear that this is intended by r/WSB to be humor. I personally don't think that an article reporting on offensive humor should itself be flagkilled.

Re: The nihilism of r/wallstreetbets

#53

Post by abrowne2 »

supernova87a wrote: post #33

It just doesn't add up to me. If you take Gamestop (GME) today's hot item, it's trading 170M shares back and forth, at say, $70. That's $11B sloshing back and forth. You're telling me 10,000 (if even?) guys sitting at home doing retail trading have $1M each in positions driving this? 100,000 people with $100,000 each, during the day? I think it's quant and algorithmic trading. I would love to hear from an expert thou…

Member of WSB here, no expert

The narrative of GME has been building for weeks before any news coverage happened. This isn't the first stock to blow up from WSB, but there are a few others in past weeks (none that have reached GME levels) such as BB, PLTR, and previously ABNB (whatever new stock that has IPO'd).

There are a handful of users that have $1M positions (some smaller ones, like a user that reported $250k into $7M, back down to $4.2M). Collectively, the community appears to drive hype towards different stocks based on flimsy things.

Without a doubt there's HFT (High frequency trading) happening, but these social communities are having an impact.

Re: The nihilism of r/wallstreetbets

#54

Post by bmitc »

curiousllama wrote: post #30

WSB is hilarious. It’s also such a place of sadness. 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 dif…

I like going to /r/wallstreetbets. I'm not even sure if those YOLO posts are real. Maybe some are. But it seems a lot of people are there just to have fun. I want to think that someone who posts about YOLOing on GME is really someone just invested in ETFs. Every now and then, there's actually really good advice on /r/wallstreetbets. It's one of the rare subreddits where you can just let loose joining in on the fun and memes, but then if you ask a serious question, you usually get a serious and useful answer.

Re: The nihilism of r/wallstreetbets

#55

Post by jnwatson »

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" ?

These days, especially with the pandemic, there are many single folks making over $50k a year living with their parents. That times a few hundred thousand, plus the hangers-on, is definitely enough to move a stock, at least for a little bit.

Re: The nihilism of r/wallstreetbets

#56

Post by jsonne »

launch_queue wrote: post #35
notananthem wrote: post #5

This is a poorly written article trying to time a large economic exploitative event. WSB is, genuinely, pretty dumb but they actually advocate normal positions like index holdings, and only trading on "moonshots" with a very small % of portfolio. Their offensive language and such is a product of being on Reddit though.

I think the author was right that its 4chan language. I wouldn't say its a product of being on Reddit. Besides /r/the_donald and /r/wallstreetbets/, I've only ever seen that kind of language on 4chan-specific subreddits like /r/greentext and /r/4chan.

Some of the gun subreddits mimic this language as well. Particularly weekendgunnit before they went off platform.

Re: The nihilism of r/wallstreetbets

#57

Post by supernova87a »

curiousllama wrote: post #40
supernova87a wrote: post #33

It just doesn't add up to me. If you take Gamestop (GME) today's hot item, it's trading 170M shares back and forth, at say, $70. That's $11B sloshing back and forth. You're telling me 10,000 (if even?) guys sitting at home doing retail trading have $1M each in positions driving this? 100,000 people with $100,000 each, during the day? I think it's quant and algorithmic trading. I would love to hear from an expert thou…

It’s not 11B sloshing. It’s probably 1% of that, if that. Market cap > available shares Available shares > traded shares Traded shares > actual $ involved

What do you mean? Today's traded volume is 170M shares. The price is $80. $13-14B has to change hands to settle that.

Re: The nihilism of r/wallstreetbets

#59

Post by devoutsalsa »

roland35 wrote: post #17
koolk3ychain wrote: post #3

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.

There is always an alure of outsmarting everyone and getting rich quick.

It’s also very easy to think you’ve found easy money. When I first heard about options, I was super excited about how I could make money if a stock went up or down. It was less obvious that you can lose 100% of your money if the stock fails to move much at all. Thankfully I did my homework and didn’t get too wrapped up in option trading.

Re: The nihilism of r/wallstreetbets

#60

Post by boringg »

Interesting take - especially the tie in to other internet culture. I think it might be a bit over analysis and a lot of people just effing around (people actively taking advantage) enjoying the ridiculousness/oneupmanship of the subreddit thread. I would say that the thread rewards ridiculous behavior by the upvote dopamine loop (small but some level of street cred in the subreddit).

I also wonder how many institutional investors now have algorithms developed or at least monitor this thread.

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