r/WallStreetBets

You were, you were ... stock trading.

You're like, you're, it's no different than WallStreetBets.

You're buying an options con- a levered long options contract on a market that is already, you're already paying over market value for that contract privilege.

And so, like, buying a floor plan in 2021 was like a lottery ticket, and people...

Maybe your friends are telling you they've got into crypto.

Maybe you log onto Reddit, the WallStreetBet sub forum.

You see lots of other people getting into crypto and therefore you think, "If I'm missing out, then I'm gonna be looking foolish for not being into this new asset." And so I think that is really key.

There's experiments by a Solomon Asch on conformity where he takes a standard line, and he gives you three lines and asks which of those three lines is similar in length to this standard line.

Thank you, and be well in good health.

His clients, which includes retirees in their 80s and 90s, not only lost everything but were hit with margin debt calls that forced them to pay interest, all because of a gas trade that's so degenerate I wouldn't blink if I saw it on WallStreetBets.

Some individual names that you like right now and have actually been putting money in right now include Upstart.

That is one.

I come from sort of like high-frequency options.

We were the market makers for the first iteration of WallStreetBets, where WallStreetBets later turned into sort of like meme stocks and GME and AMC.

But 2015 to 2019 was a lot of tech and finance bros punting short-dated options because they wanted high delta leverage.

And so I was one of them.

...

WallStreetBets and things like that, it happens so violently and quickly to catch that sentiment.

But I guess then the conclusion here, I, I kind of see it two ways.

One way is, like you put your trader hat on, and I kind of can't help but think having lived through markets for the last 20 years, that we get this run-up, and then I wanna-

Mm

... literally meme stocks being pushed by, you know, WallStreetBets community of 20 something million people, uh, on Reddit.

So that...

And that's not an investment case, right? You don't wanna buy something hoping that it'll become a meme.

I mean, it's just, it's ugly.

And so, you know, look, if you go on like WallStreetBets, like Reddit WallStreetBets now-

Yeah

... and you should go on there.

If you're, if you're watching this interview or listening to it, go, go on r/WallStreetBets and just look at some of the posts.

And nobody is even trading equities anymore.

It's all options, okay? And if you've been living under a rock forever, you know, options give you 100:1 leverage on equities.