Book Review: The Trolls of Wall Street
"The Trolls of Wall Street" by Nathaniel Popper tells the story of the Reddit community named WallStreetBets. While most people are risk-averse with their money, WallStreetBets community members welcome unlikely long shots. The story encompasses the GameStop frenzy during the pandemic but starts all the way back in 2012 with an origin story.
The people who post on WallStreetBets joke about their ineptitude and social status, in between posting gain and loss “porn” (images of investment charts). And, of course, the many memes that interpret investing stories and events with a juvenile spin.
It’s easy to judge these Redditors, and many people do, but the book doesn’t. It’s surprisingly neutral, but more than that, it tries to understand why the WallStreetBets crowd behaves the way they do.
It’s not entirely successful at that. But it does have something original to say about a modern male life lived on the internet and alienation from mainstream society. A minor recurring theme is politics and how the moderators and community members are keen to eschew the usual political groupthink.
But mostly, this is the story of how WallStreetBets is moderated—the trials and tribulations of running a popular subreddit, if you will. This is not for everyone. But if you have an interest in finance or nerdy topics, you will likely enjoy it.
There is a particular anecdote I really got a kick out of. Originally, an IRC channel (a chat room) was set up for the moderators to communicate. A few years go by, and the main person doing all the moderation work is considered an outsider by the original moderators. He never does get invited into the IRC chat room. This is classic internet clique stuff.
GameStop is a part of the story, but just a part. It’s good to see the timeline and the cast of characters laid out. The interesting part of the Game Stop story is the reach that the subreddit had at its peak . The moderators have to confront genuine dilemmas about the power and responsibility that comes with influencing mob behaviour.
It’s paradoxical that WallStreetBets members know that their bets are not likely to pay off, but they make them anyway. Their reasons range from ennui to rage at a system perceived as being rigged against the common person. The book’s author is even-handed, though. I didn’t pick up this book thinking all hedge funds were evil, and the book didn’t try to convince me that they are.
It’s great to have this book as a document of a popular and bizarre feature of our times. I hope the author is able to revisit it and perhaps write a part two in the early 2030s.