1y ago

Reddit's Meme Stock Forum Users Threaten to Bet Against Its IPO (Bloomberg, via archive.today)

Reddit Inc.'s stock-trading enthusiasts made it a household name by backing companies that Wall Street wouldn't. For Reddit's own initial public offering, a group of them are about to flip the script.

In the days after the social-media company filed for an IPO, thousands of members of the WallStreetBets forum — which boasts around 15 million users and helped popularize meme stocks like GameStop Corp. — voted to boost a forum post about shorting the company, a sharp reversal of their typically bullish ways. Their avowed reasons varied from the company's lack of profitability to competitive concerns, and mostly centered on spite.

(paywalled on Bloomberg website)

39 comments

This is gonna be hilarious. I bet reddit was banking on capitalizing on the whole "diamond hands" and stonks memes, but instead are gonna get shorted.
- I just hope they have a Plan B in case of any interference from spez.
  (And I wouldn't put it past him.)
  
  It would be idiotic too, cause it would only make them mad and make them even more dedicated to tanking the IPO. It would be the absolute worst thing he could do.
  That said, buy popcorn futures because I totally expect him to ban the sub, remove the mods, or restrict discussion of the IPO
- Bruh not if they've ever checked the sub and its probably the singularly most active sub on reddit, by at least 2-3 oom.
  They daily thread gets 25k+ comments per day, every day, in an 8 hour trading window.. Its a constant stream of shit and piss.
  
  It's also their golden goose.
  Spez shares memes with the top mods.
  They ain't worried about it.
- Reddit doesn't care what 15,000 broke-ass gamblers do.
  
  Reddit certainly seems to be interested in trying to sell them their stock, though
- Have they tired, I don't know... having a profit?
- Diamond stonks was all about fucking over the masses so that the rich could buy low and sell high.
  We'll see similar with the IPO. I doubt anyone is smart enough to really know how that stock will behave, but expect similar "Hey, we need to hold on to this for just long enough to prove that it is a failure. Oh, my portfolio? Don't ask questions"
It’s a ruse.
This is a shitty cover story to obfuscate institutional shorting.
Wall Street Bets has been completely compromised since 2021 and its head moderator is said to work for Citadel
It’s a ruse. IPO = exit liquidity and they will blame it on “rEtaiL”
- I honestly don’t think many in WSB would be willing and or able to be approved for a margin account and to put up the collateral. It’s much easier to buy than to short.
  I’m sure some will do it, but I doubt it will be a big thing from retail investors.
  
  Yeah, Reddit was offering shares to high profile users/moderators. The CEO paid himself very near $200 million last year— and the company has never been profitable.
  🚩🚩RED FLAGS 🚩🚩🚩🚩
  I will stay far away from anything to do with it. (See Robinhood)
  
  Well they can buy puts without margin accounts, since those have a cap on the losses, which would also get more valuable if the stock price decreases. While technically a side bet, the options sellers often want to remain neutral in their risk with respect to movements of the underlying stocks, so buying options may influence stock price as well because of the downstream effects the options seller may undertake.
  The expanded leverage of short term calls, though not directly buying the stock, may have been one thing that helped explode the GameStop share prices, as options sellers had to buy more shares to limit the losses on calls they had sold as the price increased (a gamma squeeze).
This is horse shit. WSB is not a meme stock forum.
Its a piss drinking forum with a gambling problem, get it straight.
Also, as a previously highly active meme poster within said community, I begged Reddit to IPO so I could buy puts in the daily thread everyday.
Also, just like literally every other forum and sub that exists, WSB isn't a monolith. It can seem that way because some voices are louder at times, but I assure you, some other degenerate piss drinker is on the other side of your losing 0dtes.
For the uninitiated:
https://v.redd.it/wu2mkr3e8uv41/DASH_1080
- This is horse shit. WSB is not a meme stock forum.
  Its a piss drinking forum with a gambling problem, get it straight.
  Hey, I ain't Bloomberg; take your complaints to them.
I would say betting against a website that had never turned a profit in almost 2 decades of its existence despite getting millions of dollars of free labor (well, more accurately, PAYING to do work for reddit) every year seems like a no-brainer.
- despite getting millions of dollars of free labor
  I'm still trying to figure out how so-called "landed gentry" donates free labor; this makes no sense.
How do I buy a put option on an IPO?
- You can buy naked short, but you need big $$ for that.
  You might some betting markets, but thats kinda sketch.
  Only realistic option for plebs is to wait the 30 days for the options to go live. But it will prob be delisted by then.
- I have no idea; am not active in that sub and just posted the story.
  Perhaps someone else can chime in.
How can I get in on shorting reddit?
- You’ll need to approved for a margin account and will need to put up some collateral. It’s not nearly as easy as simply buying stock.
  https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/investing/shorting-a-stock
  
  He could also get approval for options trading and buy puts, but puts won't be available until roughly a week of trading, and the IV will likely eat most if not all of his investment.
  
  More work than it's worth to me unfortunately
- Maybe this guy knows https://lemmy.world/comment/7239388
This should be good and maybe we can make a bunch of money
Don't bait the backwards GME.

39 comments