{"title":"Will the reddit rebellion take you to the moon? Evidence from WallStreetBets.","authors":"Ryan G Chacon, Thibaut G Morillon, Ruixiang Wang","doi":"10.1007/s11408-022-00415-w","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In early 2021, several stocks receiving attention from retail traders known as \"meme stocks\" soared in value. A primary source of information regarding these stocks is from the social media platform Reddit, specifically from a subreddit known as WallStreetBets (WSB).This paper investigates whether a simple and easily implementable trading strategy following the WallStreetBets (WSB) subreddit can produce alpha. We document no evidence this is the case. Though we do observe a positive relation between WSB submissions and abnormal trading volume, we find that a portfolio that goes long buy recommendations and short sell recommendations each day is not profitable on a risk-adjusted basis. Holding periods from one day to one year fail to produce alpha. These findings are robust to a variety of different portfolio formation strategies. Our results provide an early look at the data following the explosion of interest in social media inspired retail investing.</p>","PeriodicalId":44895,"journal":{"name":"Financial Markets and Portfolio Management","volume":"37 1","pages":"1-25"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5000,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9210333/pdf/","citationCount":"5","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Financial Markets and Portfolio Management","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11408-022-00415-w","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"BUSINESS, FINANCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 5
Abstract
In early 2021, several stocks receiving attention from retail traders known as "meme stocks" soared in value. A primary source of information regarding these stocks is from the social media platform Reddit, specifically from a subreddit known as WallStreetBets (WSB).This paper investigates whether a simple and easily implementable trading strategy following the WallStreetBets (WSB) subreddit can produce alpha. We document no evidence this is the case. Though we do observe a positive relation between WSB submissions and abnormal trading volume, we find that a portfolio that goes long buy recommendations and short sell recommendations each day is not profitable on a risk-adjusted basis. Holding periods from one day to one year fail to produce alpha. These findings are robust to a variety of different portfolio formation strategies. Our results provide an early look at the data following the explosion of interest in social media inspired retail investing.
期刊介绍:
The journal Financial Markets and Portfolio Management invites submissions of original research articles in all areas of finance, especially in – but not limited to – financial markets, portfolio choice and wealth management, asset pricing, risk management, and regulation. Its principal objective is to publish high-quality articles of innovative research and practical application. The readers of Financial Markets and Portfolio Management are academics and professionals in finance and economics, especially in the areas of asset management. FMPM publishes academic and applied research articles, shorter ''Perspectives'' and survey articles on current topics of interest to the financial community, as well as book reviews. All article submissions are subject to a double-blind peer review. http://www.fmpm.org
Officially cited as: Financ Mark Portf Manag