“We now have more degenerates than the population of New York City”: The remarkable rise of r/wallstreetbets.

As Wall Street, Main Street and essentially everyone in between reacted to the meteoric rise of GameStop’s stock value – which jumped from under $50 per share at the beginning of the year to over $350 per share by Jan. 28 – WSB saw itself at the center of the global news cycle. 

Reddit is known for being simultaneously one of the world’s most visited online discussion platforms – with a sub-thread for almost any topic – and one of the most infamous domains for some of social media’s worst attributes: bullying, conspiracy theories and rampant hate speech. 

WSB is no exception. As of Feb. 4, the thread had 8.5 million members – or “degenerates” – and its growing popularity shows no signs of slowing down, despite the current stock value decline of GameStop and some of the thread’s other favorite investments. WSB has also developed its own distinct language and culture, much of which is vulgar and inappropriate to quote. Phrases like “hold the line” (encouragement to other users to hold their shares despite pressures to sell) and “to the moon” (a prediction that a stock is about to soar in value, typically followed by multiple rocket emojis) are common. “Tendies” is typically used to refer to winnings, a sarcastic reference to chicken fingers and a popular internet meme. 

Some of WSB’s lexicon and behavior are less absurd and more offensive. Members commonly refer to each other using a slur considered offensive to those who are mentally disabled. The thread also occasionally gives credence to former President Donald Trump’s false election conspiracies, and much of the language and culture found on WSB feels reminiscent of aspects of 4chan, another online message board community that has faced backlash for its embracement of alt-right conspiracy theories and white supremacy. WSB’s home page describes itself as “Like 4chan found a Bloomberg terminal.” 

After the recent influx of media attention, WSB has become a hot spot for conspiracy theories about its own members and moderators. Many of the posts now mention a widespread distrust of other users, with some posters alleging that other users are members of the media or actually powerful Wall Street investors who have ulterior and nefarious motives for being on the thread. One frequent user of the thread requested not to speak on the record because of potential Congressional oversight hearings, and another spoke vaguely about a new, clandestine sub-thread where the “original” members have all fled. Some posters on the thread have even gone so far as to call the community a cult, but most commenters describe the community in more sarcastic terms. 

For now, the future direction of WSB seems uncertain. In recent days there have been calls from Congress for oversight, and Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev has been scheduled to testify before the 

House Financial Services Committee (Robinhood is a free-trading app that has become a favorite of WSB traders). Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), the House Financial Services Committee chairwoman, has even called for representatives from GameStop and Reddit to testify. Waters has said that she would also like to see Keith Gill come before the committee. Gill has been a vocal supporter of GameStop and a leading voice on WSB. Since hitting highs of over $300 per share only a week ago, GameStop stock has fallen in recent days to under $65 per share, a steep decline and large setback for the WSB community that advocated holding the line for days. 

Regardless of the future of GameStop stock – and other favorites of WSB – the collective efforts of everyday, small-time investors have proven to be effective at creating chaos. As the conversation shifts to heightened regulation, the WSB community is still growing, both in size and fervor.

A sign has be placed in Cordova that invites people to join the WSB thread on Reddit.