Impressions of /WSB
It was 5am, my daughter of 5 months realized she was awake after a restful 3 hours of sleep. She knew she would be going back to sleep shortly, and I drew the short straw for the morning shift. Made myself a cup of joe and we played. She became distracted with a new rattle, and I opened Reddit. At the time, $GME was at $60 and /wallstreetbets only had a million “degenerates.” What I witnessed over the course of the next week was phenomenal. An action packed thriller that had my eyes glued to the media. I watched from the sidelines as theories faded between fact and fiction, enjoying every minute from the bench, popcorn in hand.
I have mixed feelings about /wallstreetbets. In one regard, it has created a new community that our generation longs for. While it also creates the same thing the community looks to displace, greed. People with money tend to be assholes,
No doubt about it, this made history. Moreover, this was a movement. Regardless of the end result, obligatory 🚀, this will forever change the landscape of finance.
Finance has long been an industry dominated by a quiet few that have the capital and means to do as they please. This movement is the start of democratizing finance. Hedge funds will need to account for the “Reddit” factor. That’s unique and the community created it. $4.5B, that is how much Melvin Capital lost due to a few that knew enough to be dangerous, then created a movement. The silent capitalist will need to account for this in their risk models. So much of this is intangible that it will forever leave a gap on the spreadsheets of firms.
Moreover, this movement has provided hope for a new generation. The millennials or Gen X’ers of the world have been beaten down and rendered a hopeless existence living in their parents’ basement. Through diligence toward education, there is a realization that finance is within reach. It is not some distant goals never to be achieved. Education is one of the few areas that is not lacking in resources, if you want to learn, you can, open the Google.
I am not one for “get rich quick methods,” as I find history is not in the favor of those looking to quickly make a buck. Of course, there are unicorn exceptions, yet probability is not on my side. I am not looking to make a quick buck, rather I am learning that opportunity abounds on the off chance I want to learn. Therefore, adherence to diligence and tested methods that have historically worked is my method of choice. Finance has taught me a thing or two, history has taught me more. History also teaches us that when a large cash influx is artificially inflating the stock and the memes keep changing, then don’t be the sucker that believes it and close your position before it goes nuclear.
Being a millennial myself, I’ve never been more proud of our generation. We are adapting to a changing world. Education has replaced a sword-wielding knight of the foregone Renassaince era and created an opportunity for those that have opened their eyes to it. New terms like gamma squeeze, long option, Black-Scholes method, spreads have once been foreign, have become mainstream. As education becomes more prominent, so too has the decentralization of finance.
They say ignorance is bliss. I can confirm, I have been blissfully ignorant of those that control the markets. Yet, with a new realization of the possibilities, I have a newfound yearning to take my place in the world of finance and learn more! Thank you for /wallstreetbets for setting a fire for individuals like me!
We the people. The democratization of finance, with or without RH.
Be sure to watch the Hearing on February 18, 2021, note 🍻 and popcorn is required.