The Weekly Meme Factory Update

Breaking news: A hedge fund got greedy.

Then a subreddit got wise to it. An American videogame retailer–GameStop (known in Canada as EB Games)–saw its stock rise 1,641.90% in two weeks. Here’s our peek into the degenerate meme factory that is causing such a fuss that even leftish Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and actual human Ted Cruz are agreeing with each other.

One of the wonderful aspects of our work is that we get to learn about cultures that otherwise we never would have experienced. From the traditions of a northern indigenous community to a slice of Americans fixated on conspicuous travel to wine-drunk twitter users, the world is full of wonderful communities that we’re privileged to get to know.

The internet is an absolute culture engine. People from all over the world with shared passions, troubles, or senses of humour can get together. Over time, those shared traits are intensified, crystallized. Like any group of friends, an internet community will develop habits, traditions and inside jokes. And with thousands or millions of pals, these bits of culture develop with astonishing speed. Here’s some of what we understand about the culture of the subreddit forum that started it all: r/wallstreetbets.

1. Millennial and Gen Z cynicism & frustration

Millennials came of age during the 2008 financial crisis and Gen Z’s coming of age is marred by a pandemic with staggeringly unequal effects. Over the last 30 years, increases in the cost of housing and tuition have vastly outpaced increases in wages. The impact of this disparity has hit Reddit’s young user base hard. Many r/wallstreetbets users feel cut-off from the opportunities to build wealth that were available to their parents.

Feeling robbed of that opportunity makes buying the equivalent of a lottery ticket on the stock market seem more appealing. Pair that with the opportunity to dismantle a greedy hedge fund? Catnip for people whose rental apartment doesn’t allow cats.

2. Language

Like many internet forums, users develop their own dialect over time. To help you navigate, here is an abridged r/wallstreetbets - English dictionary. You can find a more complete version here.

Tendies = Profits from a successful trade.

JPOW = Jerome Powell, Chairman of the US Federal Reserve.

Diamond hands 💎✋ = The conviction to hold a position in the market.

Paper hands = The cowardice of abandoning your position.

Guh = Dismay at a major loss. Often referred to as "the sound of a soul leaving a man's body."

3. Vulgar self-deprecation

Along with its own dialect, r/wallstreetbets spews a vivid stream of vulgarity that needs no interpretation to offend. Posters affectionately refer to each other as autists, retards and degenerates. The vulgarity is both a barrier to outsiders and a shibboleth to identify true members of the tribe. Not comfortable making jokes about your impotence and your wife’s boyfriend? Fine, you don’t belong here. Reddit’s young, male users have some overlap with frat-boy culture: crudeness is encouraged and there’s varying levels of tolerance for varying flavours of bigotry.

4. Self-awareness & satire

The overwhelming majority of investors posting on r/wallstreets bets are gambling with the stock market and know it. There are a few users who make their case for a stock’s rise or fall with thorough due diligence and reams of data, but they are more likely to receive a response such as “Garbage analysis, not enough 🚀 emojis" than they are to get incisive feedback.

5. In it for the memes

Along with the analysis and the gambling comes a staggering array of images, gifs and even musical numbers. Although a few r/wallstreetbets denizens are making and losing fortunes, most are just there to cheer them on and laugh at the memes.

A better understanding of r/wallstreetbets doesn’t let us forecast Gamestop’s share price. It will, we hope, inoculate you against politicians from the left or right claiming the current phenomenon as their own. Politicians saying that r/wallstreetbets represents a groundswell of support for policies that they just happen to be championing. r/wallstreetbets doesn’t want to tax the rich. r/wallstreetbets doesn’t want to deregulate the market. r/wallstreetbets wants tendies. r/wallstreetbets wants memes. r/wallstreetbets wants to stick their thumb in the eye of hedge funds operating with an unfair advantage.

Yes, all of this can make us feel a bit old and out of touch, but like Juan Ponce de Leon looking for the fountain of youth somewhere in the Everglades, the secret is to embrace your discomfort, dive into the culture and learn more about it. Not every culture is as close to your own values as wine culture might be.

For anyone thinking about joining in on GME’s rocket to the moon, we’ll leave you with this comment from u/The_Law_of_Pizza.

Please note: we are not your financial advisor and have no proof that this user practices Pizza Law.