If laughter is the best medicine, then the people posting on WallStreetBets must be the healthiest people on earth.
The Reddit channel has been the source of much gallows humor recently as investors contend with the multi pronged attacks of inflation, the cryptocurrency collapse, falling stock prices and the ongoing war in Ukraine.
'Knock. Knock. You're Next.'
In fact, the Grim Reaper himself makes an appearance in a cartoon posted on the sub channel as he knocks on a door marked "Real Estate" after leaving a trail of blood at others marked "Stocks" and "Cryptocurrency."
The caption? "Knock. Knock. You're Next."
"You best start believing in Bear Markets, son," one commenter said. "You’re in one."
WallStreetBets was created on January 31, 2012, with a particular emphasis on highly speculative trading strategies.
The community describes itself as "Like 4chan found a Bloomberg Terminal," a reference to the series of anonymous, anything-goes forums, and boasts 12.3 million "Degenerates."
The channel rocked the stock market right down to its ankles early last year with the infamous GameStop (GME) short squeeze that sent shares of the video game retailer into the stratosphere and some hedge fund managers to their therapists.
WallStreetBets also helped create the concept of the meme stock as the so-called apes displayed cult-like devotion to certain companies, such as GameStop and AMC (AMC) Entertainment.
'Reward the Dramatic'
The forum surged from roughly 500,000 users in July 2018 to about 10.7 million users in June 2021, with a spike in January 2021.
"People become members of online communities because they can find like-minded people there," said Tessa West, associate psychology professor at New York University. "By and large these online communities wind up being echo chambers. And emotionally charged ones at that."
The more emotional the content posted, West said, the more likely it is to go viral.
"These communities reward the dramatic," she said.
She added that she did not believe the group was an accurate reflection of the investor community, as there is a great deal of censorship and a small number of people contribute most of the content.
"People think certain opinions are more common than they are simply because they are massively over represented," West said. "Pair this trend with the selective censorship, you get the perfect recipe for a false consensus effect."
Nevertheless, she said these communities can be powerful drivers of real world behavior.
'Business as Usual'
"So just because they don’t accurately represent the opinions of most, doesn’t mean they can’t be used to motivate action," West said.
GameStop recently posted a wider-than-expected first quarter loss but noted solid gains from online sales, with CEO Matt Furlong saying the company will pursue "growth opportunities in the cryptocurrency, NFT, and Web 3 gaming verticals."
"My girlfriend is mad at me and the only thing fking me is the stock market...business as usual," one recent post said.
Another poster used courtroom video footage of Johnny Depp giving testimony during his lawsuit against his ex-wife Amber Heard.
The 14-second clip, captioned "I'm holding till grave", depicts the actor being asked "Mr. Depp, you're down 95%. Have you ever considered selling?"
"No, I can't," Depp responds. "It's....uh...no."
'Financial Apocalypse'
Another post used characters from "The Simpsons" to harken back to the 2008 stock market collapse with Principal Skinner renamed "2022" smacking a boy christened "2008".
The caption read "2022 about to show 2008 how the big boys do it."
"This is how you start a financial Apocalypse," 2022 says.
And then another commenter pointed to spiraling gasoline prices with a photo of a car's gas gauge on "Full" and the description "New Tinder Profile Pic."
'Lost the Entirety of Our Savings'
"Ladies I'm recently single. DM," the caption reads.
The recent collapse of cryptocurrency prices sparked stories about financial ruin and concerns about investors committing suicide. The most recent comments don't seem to be as severe, but there are still some heartache going on.
"fiancee came home crying saying that she’s been put in a pip (Performance Improvement Plan) and will likely be terminated in 90 days," one commenter said. "how do i tell her that i’ve lost the entirety of our savings."
"Say that it’ll bounce back in 3-5 years And look for new st(r)eams of income," was one response.
