What Is Wallstreetbets (WSB)?

Wallstreetbets, otherwise known as /r/wallstreetbets or WSB, is a subreddit for participants to discuss stock and options trading. 

A subreddit is the fulcrum for a specific online community and their posts, hosted on the social media website Reddit. Each subreddit is dedicated to a particular topic and is written as /r/ followed by the community or topic name – e.g., /r/wallstreetbets.

Wallstreetbets became popular due to the community’s use of slangs and memes and reputation for aggressive trading strategies. The Wallstreetbets community played a large role in the GameStop short squeeze, which caused heavy losses for several companies and short sellers in early 2021. 

This subreddit’s reputation for circulating and encouraging aggressive trading strategies is due to the community’s focus on highly speculative, leveraged options trading. Members of the subreddit include young retail traders and investors that tend not to adhere to many conventional practices, such as risk management methods. There has also been a recent trend in the growth of no-commission brokers and mobile online trading platforms, both of which have encouraged this new online trading culture.

The members of these communities will often see high-risk day trading as an opportunity for quickly improving their financial situation. Bear in mind that there are certain members that resort to using borrowed capital to bet on meme stocks that rise in popularity within the community.

Some of the community’s more famous slang includes using “stonks” instead of stocks and “tendies” to refer to gains or profits.