Money

Power to the Primates: Inside the Subreddit Investing Group that’s Shaking Wall Street’s Tree

Beneath this planet of toxic masculinity, political incorrectness, and scatological humor is a surprising core of human decency

Photo by Jung Ho Park on Unsplash

Please note: Denise Shelton is not a professional financial advisor. Nothing in this story should, in any way, be taken as investment advice. Please consult a professional before investing in the stock market.

Anyone watching the stock market lately knows that a Reddit subgroup for retail investors called r/wallstreetbets (WSB) is raising a rumpus with Wall Street’s big fish. Most notably, group members have banded together to promote heavily shorted “meme” stocks like GameStop ($GME) and AMC Entertainment Holdings ($AMC) to thwart the hedge funds betting against them.

David vs. Goliath

Estimates show that activity related to the popular investing subreddit resulted in $70 billion in hedge fund losses in January alone. Most notably is the so-far successful push to save gaming retailer GME from oblivion.

In a March 11 interview with Yahoo Finance, Ihor Dusaniwsky of analytics firm S3 Partners said that GameStop short sellers are down…