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by koolk3ychain 1967 days ago
I don't understand why people think /r/wallstreetbets is really that interesting or provides insight into actual wall street? Anyone who knows anything about actual options trading / building strategies knows these people are idiots. Sure, there's a lot of money flowing around - but most people don't realize that to many $60k is pocket change.
2 comments

There is always an alure of outsmarting everyone and getting rich quick.
It’s also very easy to think you’ve found easy money. When I first heard about options, I was super excited about how I could make money if a stock went up or down. It was less obvious that you can lose 100% of your money if the stock fails to move much at all. Thankfully I did my homework and didn’t get too wrapped up in option trading.
How can you be outsmarting people when you're just taking public advice from random people on the Internet?

Unless you're the guy posting the "hot tips" that you just happened to buy a bunch of shares in a few minutes ago hoping that the sheep will push up the price for a moment.

Eppur si muove
Albeit, it's incredibly entertaining - however anyone who things any of it is "real information" who doesn't have pre-existing professional experience is a moron. Unless you're already a professional I highly doubt anyone can cut through the noise to signal ratio.
I don't think anybody thinks that it has anything to do with Wall Street, and anyone who thinks that Wall Street has anything to do with modern markets is also about 15 years behind the times (hint: Chicago is much more important than NYC).

But as someone who spent most of their career running sizeable vol books, there are a few people on /r/wsb who do understand options, or at least they understand gamma, which is more than I can say for 90% of the morons on Twitter.

But even on /r/wsb there are clearly people who are trading at proper buyside shops. You can tell by the way they write, the things they say, and the knowledge they hold. And yet they come to /r/wsb for some of the same reasons that TFA highlights.

"Wall Street" is a metonym for the US finance industry. It doesn't refer to the actual location. Much like how if "the White House" does something, it means someone working for the POTUS, regardless of whether they're in that specific building or not.