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The Trolls of Wall Street: How the Outcasts and Insurgents Are Hacking the Markets
[ MP3 CD Format ] From renowned financial and technology journalist Nathaniel Popper the dramatic story of a new generation of financial strivers, living online and playing the stock and crypto markets by a new set of rules. Following a cast of young, all male characters, who went from the fringes of the internet to the front pages of newspapers, The Degenerate Generation tells the tale of how social media, crypto and startups like Robinhood and Reddit allowed for the formation of a powerful online movement in which the most unlikely participants took on the old guard -- and each other. In The Degenerate Generation , journalist Nathaniel Popper charts the evolution from the idealism of Occupy Wall Street in 2011 to the anarchic chaos of the GameStop frenzy in 2021 and the market crash of 2022. Showing how a combination of new technology and broader cultural and economic forces created an online revolution led by bands of predominantly young men, who gathered on Reddit and proudly referred to themselves as “degenerates.” This unlikely online gang took their frustration at the current economic system and social climate and created a powerful cultural movement that upended global financial markets and set in motion far reaching changes to how money flows through the economy -- all of this just a decade after a financial crisis that most people assumed would forever kill interest in the stock markets. A character driven, human story of kids who made and lost millions, battled with each and with Wall Street for power, and ultimately upended the economy, The Degenerate Generation is a fast moving, suspenseful, and sobering account of how millions of young Americans became obsessed with money and the markets and how that has affected politics, popular culture, finance and more.
1 pages, Audio CD
Published June 11, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
August 5, 2024
My guess is some forum posted this book and told everyone to post one star reviews. The best part about all the one star reviews is that they talk about how poorly researched the book is when they clearly haven’t read it. Ah the irony. Anyway I liked it. The online communities self identify as trolls and there is so much great stuff there you won’t read in a news article or see elsewhere. Easy five stars. Well done!
June 17, 2024
I wasn't sure what to expect going into this but honestly, it was an enjoyable read. It does a decent job distilling everything around the WSB subreddit and the rise of the meme stock phenomenon. If you're someone who has seen what happened with GameStop in recent times and wants better context, this book may help you fill in some blanks.
Edit: Amusing to see all the vocal early one-star reviews. Not that it's the best book in the world, but it's pretty clear most of them haven't bothered reading the thing at all.
Edit: Amusing to see all the vocal early one-star reviews. Not that it's the best book in the world, but it's pretty clear most of them haven't bothered reading the thing at all.
September 23, 2024
I started reading the book but quickly switched to the audiobook version, which felt like a better format. It is an entertaining book that, through the evolution of the Reddit online community (WSB), touches on many different aspects of modern life (loneliness and isolation, the role of virtual contact, greediness, capitalism, bullying, toxic masculinity, etc). Although the book gravitates toward how the internet and viral content can shift markets (and what that could mean for the financial sector) I was most entertained by the spectacular pettiness described through the unfolding drama of the online community.
There are many worthwhile reflections on the book (from our obsession with billionaires or the purpose of the stock market, to how people without real prospects face financial decisions) but what I liked the most was the portrait of human nature, particularly the comparison between some of the character's real-life and virtual avatars. If I had to choose a passage, I would go with the chapter about the GameStop saga. Also, every single time Popper describes the public appearances of Robin Hood founders (the investing app), you don't know what is more appropriate: crying or laughing.
There are many worthwhile reflections on the book (from our obsession with billionaires or the purpose of the stock market, to how people without real prospects face financial decisions) but what I liked the most was the portrait of human nature, particularly the comparison between some of the character's real-life and virtual avatars. If I had to choose a passage, I would go with the chapter about the GameStop saga. Also, every single time Popper describes the public appearances of Robin Hood founders (the investing app), you don't know what is more appropriate: crying or laughing.
June 13, 2024
A very well researched and written book about one of the most interesting events in our modern day financial markets. Nathaniel Popper really did an excellent job of looking at the Wall Street Bets Reddit and explaining its history in a thorough and easy to understand way. Would recommend.
June 18, 2024
This is another review I feel compelled to write to inform or correct the erroneous information from other "reviews" of this book. I found out about this book from Patrick Boyle's great youtube video with the writer titled How WallStreetBets REALLY Started! If you want a good basic overview about this book from the writers mouth I highly suggest it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd5Iq...
This book is a pretty in depth history of the /r/wallstreetbets subreddit from the very start with the founder jartek aka Jaime Rogozinski. It tells a complex story of the subreddits development as more personalities and mods got added into the mix shifting the intent of the sub along with the overall discussion day to day. You can tell the writer really dived into getting the logs of discussions from the major players and their hangouts associated with this place and really went deep interviewing them about their involvement and personal histories.
I think writer really felt he had to establish the cultural and historical setting of these events along with the online aspects as well outside of WSB but I feel this forced him to provide an overarching narrative about these times and places and how they relate to specific sociopolitical groups, specifically downwardly mobile non college educated young men. I don't think he is totally wrong in description or characterization of these groups or their larger shared feelings/sentiments but I feel sometimes some of the terminology used at times is not representative such as labeling the WSB subreddit a part of the manosphere, like 4chan I think both often have blatant and overt misogyny/homophobia present but differ from what I would characterize as the manosphere traditionally like PUA forums/blogs.
The most interesting part that is covered in this book for most people is the meme stock sagas that got started on WSB. This is something that left people formerly stuck in dead end low paying service jobs wealthy beyond any expectation, late coming dreamers bag holders, and moderators having panic attacks for fear of possible regulators seeking criminal cases for stock manipulation of low cap businesses with poor fundamentals and market prospects.
The writer covers the moving parts of what made a meme stock and also what caused some meme stocks to especially heavily shorted ones to explode in price. The drama and the machinations real and imagined from the COVID meme stock days is truly amazing to read.
Not to get too meta in this review about this book and reviews of it but it ties in with what I'm about to say. When I say real and imagined machinations this strangely has something to do with all the 1 star ratings of this book from Jun 10th for a book that came out June 11th. Prepare yourself, you are now encountering the strangest and slightly sad story that sprang forth from the feel good David and Goliath one we all know about retail traders beating hedge funds and the little guys walking away rich.
This is kind of insane to explain but in this book and according to most sensible people the short squeeze happened back in 2021 pumping a stock that was valued around $4-8 dollars to an all time high of $483, but to a number of self indentified apes still holding GME in /r/superstonk the short squeeze never happened and the MOASS (mother of all short squeezes) is bound to happen any time soon. So to the current apes betting on GME saying the hedge funds shorting GME exited their short position in 2021 is actually disinformation and a type of FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) something that is only serving the interest of the evil hedge funds trying to destroy gamestop and makes anyone saying it a shill working for them.
To understand why there are so many people that believe that the MOASS is right around the corner and the sinister hedge funds are controlling shills and still trying to short GME is a extremely interesting thing best explained in a video called This is Financial Advice by Folding Ideas that can be found here. https://youtu.be/5pYeoZaoWrA?si=r5tHk...
Overall this is a well researched and interesting book that I personally recommend, I finished it in a sprint under 24 hours it was so good. Please ignore the 1 start reviews posted before release calling the writer all types of mean names, if you feel motivated please report the false reviews of the people who didn't read the book.
This book is a pretty in depth history of the /r/wallstreetbets subreddit from the very start with the founder jartek aka Jaime Rogozinski. It tells a complex story of the subreddits development as more personalities and mods got added into the mix shifting the intent of the sub along with the overall discussion day to day. You can tell the writer really dived into getting the logs of discussions from the major players and their hangouts associated with this place and really went deep interviewing them about their involvement and personal histories.
I think writer really felt he had to establish the cultural and historical setting of these events along with the online aspects as well outside of WSB but I feel this forced him to provide an overarching narrative about these times and places and how they relate to specific sociopolitical groups, specifically downwardly mobile non college educated young men. I don't think he is totally wrong in description or characterization of these groups or their larger shared feelings/sentiments but I feel sometimes some of the terminology used at times is not representative such as labeling the WSB subreddit a part of the manosphere, like 4chan I think both often have blatant and overt misogyny/homophobia present but differ from what I would characterize as the manosphere traditionally like PUA forums/blogs.
The most interesting part that is covered in this book for most people is the meme stock sagas that got started on WSB. This is something that left people formerly stuck in dead end low paying service jobs wealthy beyond any expectation, late coming dreamers bag holders, and moderators having panic attacks for fear of possible regulators seeking criminal cases for stock manipulation of low cap businesses with poor fundamentals and market prospects.
The writer covers the moving parts of what made a meme stock and also what caused some meme stocks to especially heavily shorted ones to explode in price. The drama and the machinations real and imagined from the COVID meme stock days is truly amazing to read.
Not to get too meta in this review about this book and reviews of it but it ties in with what I'm about to say. When I say real and imagined machinations this strangely has something to do with all the 1 star ratings of this book from Jun 10th for a book that came out June 11th. Prepare yourself, you are now encountering the strangest and slightly sad story that sprang forth from the feel good David and Goliath one we all know about retail traders beating hedge funds and the little guys walking away rich.
This is kind of insane to explain but in this book and according to most sensible people the short squeeze happened back in 2021 pumping a stock that was valued around $4-8 dollars to an all time high of $483, but to a number of self indentified apes still holding GME in /r/superstonk the short squeeze never happened and the MOASS (mother of all short squeezes) is bound to happen any time soon. So to the current apes betting on GME saying the hedge funds shorting GME exited their short position in 2021 is actually disinformation and a type of FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) something that is only serving the interest of the evil hedge funds trying to destroy gamestop and makes anyone saying it a shill working for them.
To understand why there are so many people that believe that the MOASS is right around the corner and the sinister hedge funds are controlling shills and still trying to short GME is a extremely interesting thing best explained in a video called This is Financial Advice by Folding Ideas that can be found here. https://youtu.be/5pYeoZaoWrA?si=r5tHk...
Overall this is a well researched and interesting book that I personally recommend, I finished it in a sprint under 24 hours it was so good. Please ignore the 1 start reviews posted before release calling the writer all types of mean names, if you feel motivated please report the false reviews of the people who didn't read the book.
May 30, 2025
“The popularity of online celebrities like Cohen and Musk and the dangers they introduced were symptoms of a new cultural landscape in which people had stopped trusting the old institutions and leaders who used to guide American life. The American disease of distrust that became so prominent after the financial crisis had grown much worse. The faith that Americans expressed in a wide array of institutions and in each other fell year after year in surveys done by Pew, with the youngest generations showing the least trust.14
These suspicious attitudes exercised a deep influence on the way the youngest investors approached trading and investing. Gen Z investors were most likely to list social media as their top source of information when it came to investing, according to a survey done by regulators and academics. The financial professionals who used to be the primary source of information about the markets came in at the bottom of the list. It was distrust that led the young traders to seek out new leaders, but new leaders like Musk and Cohen often ended up giving their followers even more reason to distrust the world around them. This was one of many areas in which the technology used to address one problem created a whole new set of problems people hadn’t considered before.”
“The Fed survey also showed that the people who were trying out stocks for the first time were not just the old white guys who had dominated the ranks of the day traders in earlier eras. The proportion of American women and Hispanic and Black households who owned stocks had risen at faster rates than ever before. Some of the smartest and most visible commentators writing about the new wave of retail investors were themselves women. Even among the least wealthy Americans, who had previously totally avoided the markets, there was an uptick in the number holding stocks. But the biggest increase appeared to be among young white and Asian men. Given how normal this had come to be seen, it is worth recalling that right after the financial crisis, the youngest Americans had been the least likely to own stocks. Now they were the most likely.
All of this was, of course, bigger than WallStreetBets or Robinhood or the elimination of trading fees that had swept the American brokerage industry. Women and other minority groups had often felt unwelcome on WallStreetBets and Reddit more broadly, and Robinhood was now losing its hold. But it was hard to avoid the conclusion that WallStreetBets had been part of a new online world that had come together to make the markets seem more approachable for ordinary people than they had ever been before.”
“The social dissatisfactions that fed communities like WallStreetBets were worst among the young and especially among young men. Richard Reeves, a scholar at the Brookings Institution, published a book in the fall of 2022 that described how young men continued falling further and further behind their female peers in almost every category of social, academic, financial, and emotional well-being. At the beginning of the pandemic, there had been some data suggesting that young women were more hurt by the economic shutdown than men. But as the pandemic went on, it became clear that the quarantines had in fact exacerbated the previous trends and put young men at even more of a disadvantage. Reeves argued that the mainstream media and political institutions had largely ignored this issue, fanning the distrust that many young men had developed toward mainstream society and leading many of the youngsters to embrace a more crude and retrograde form of masculinity. Reeves argued that the uglier aspects of the manosphere had emerged in part because American society had focused on offering young women many attractive models for how to be strong women but had fallen down on the job of giving men a similar vision for how to be strong men in the modern world.”
These suspicious attitudes exercised a deep influence on the way the youngest investors approached trading and investing. Gen Z investors were most likely to list social media as their top source of information when it came to investing, according to a survey done by regulators and academics. The financial professionals who used to be the primary source of information about the markets came in at the bottom of the list. It was distrust that led the young traders to seek out new leaders, but new leaders like Musk and Cohen often ended up giving their followers even more reason to distrust the world around them. This was one of many areas in which the technology used to address one problem created a whole new set of problems people hadn’t considered before.”
“The Fed survey also showed that the people who were trying out stocks for the first time were not just the old white guys who had dominated the ranks of the day traders in earlier eras. The proportion of American women and Hispanic and Black households who owned stocks had risen at faster rates than ever before. Some of the smartest and most visible commentators writing about the new wave of retail investors were themselves women. Even among the least wealthy Americans, who had previously totally avoided the markets, there was an uptick in the number holding stocks. But the biggest increase appeared to be among young white and Asian men. Given how normal this had come to be seen, it is worth recalling that right after the financial crisis, the youngest Americans had been the least likely to own stocks. Now they were the most likely.
All of this was, of course, bigger than WallStreetBets or Robinhood or the elimination of trading fees that had swept the American brokerage industry. Women and other minority groups had often felt unwelcome on WallStreetBets and Reddit more broadly, and Robinhood was now losing its hold. But it was hard to avoid the conclusion that WallStreetBets had been part of a new online world that had come together to make the markets seem more approachable for ordinary people than they had ever been before.”
“The social dissatisfactions that fed communities like WallStreetBets were worst among the young and especially among young men. Richard Reeves, a scholar at the Brookings Institution, published a book in the fall of 2022 that described how young men continued falling further and further behind their female peers in almost every category of social, academic, financial, and emotional well-being. At the beginning of the pandemic, there had been some data suggesting that young women were more hurt by the economic shutdown than men. But as the pandemic went on, it became clear that the quarantines had in fact exacerbated the previous trends and put young men at even more of a disadvantage. Reeves argued that the mainstream media and political institutions had largely ignored this issue, fanning the distrust that many young men had developed toward mainstream society and leading many of the youngsters to embrace a more crude and retrograde form of masculinity. Reeves argued that the uglier aspects of the manosphere had emerged in part because American society had focused on offering young women many attractive models for how to be strong women but had fallen down on the job of giving men a similar vision for how to be strong men in the modern world.”
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 16, 2025
"The Trolls of Wall Street" is less interesting for its exploration of the WallStreetBets phenomenon but far more interesting for the glimpses it gives of people living their entire social lives online and being much more interested in chasing money and "disruption" than they are in actually improving upon the entities they regard as corrupt and in need of disruption.
Distrust of mainstream media -- well earned, given mainstream media screw-ups, agenda-pushing and the like -- led to increased trust in social media, which Popper points out is even more ripe for screw-ups and agenda-pushing than the mainstream could ever hope or fear to be.
Distrust of the big Wall Street firms, also well earned, led to increased trust in the likes of Robinhood, which, per Popper, so poorly understood the industry it was disrupting they were confused as to what laws they'd broken when they were fined by government regulators.
And these little zealots have now been unleashed on government, God help us all. Too busy distrusting and "disrupting" that they're not pausing for a nanosecond to learn exactly what it is they're doing and what their activity will lead to.
Tears and revolution, most likely.
So read this book and weep for the species at large.
Distrust of mainstream media -- well earned, given mainstream media screw-ups, agenda-pushing and the like -- led to increased trust in social media, which Popper points out is even more ripe for screw-ups and agenda-pushing than the mainstream could ever hope or fear to be.
Distrust of the big Wall Street firms, also well earned, led to increased trust in the likes of Robinhood, which, per Popper, so poorly understood the industry it was disrupting they were confused as to what laws they'd broken when they were fined by government regulators.
And these little zealots have now been unleashed on government, God help us all. Too busy distrusting and "disrupting" that they're not pausing for a nanosecond to learn exactly what it is they're doing and what their activity will lead to.
Tears and revolution, most likely.
So read this book and weep for the species at large.
February 7, 2025
This isn't as interesting as it should be, and even though it was published last year, already feels out of date in the Trump 2.0 era.
Trolls is all about the rise of social media-based retail investing which introduced a whole new dimension to the markets which the established players don't like. The online communities grew and evolved and became more unhinged with the "Owls" giving way to the conspiracy-driven "Apes" and then the whole thing fracturing and settling into something more conventional.
The problem with the book is that the people it focuses on just aren't that interesting. The book profiles mainly basement-dwelling, terminally online millennials with no friends in the real world - it's okay to see inside their world but you don't want to move in with them. Whole sections are devoted to granular descriptions of content moderation and settings for bots. Somehow it sucks the drama out of the story.
Then the book just ends ... It's like the author hit the end of his word count or something.
All up I'm glad I read Trolls of Wall Street, and I learned something but ultimately the book is a bit of a disappointment.
Trolls is all about the rise of social media-based retail investing which introduced a whole new dimension to the markets which the established players don't like. The online communities grew and evolved and became more unhinged with the "Owls" giving way to the conspiracy-driven "Apes" and then the whole thing fracturing and settling into something more conventional.
The problem with the book is that the people it focuses on just aren't that interesting. The book profiles mainly basement-dwelling, terminally online millennials with no friends in the real world - it's okay to see inside their world but you don't want to move in with them. Whole sections are devoted to granular descriptions of content moderation and settings for bots. Somehow it sucks the drama out of the story.
Then the book just ends ... It's like the author hit the end of his word count or something.
All up I'm glad I read Trolls of Wall Street, and I learned something but ultimately the book is a bit of a disappointment.
June 25, 2024
The backstory behind the iconic and influential subreddit WallStreetBets. Even though I lived through it, and was part of the wave of new investors who entered the market during COVID, I was surprised by the complex power struggles and drama throughout the forum's short history.
Most of all, I sympathize with the individuals like u/zjz who poured their heart and soul into moderating and maintaining an internet forum that would shake the country, but who received nothing financially out of their efforts while Reddit capitalized on their success. It was fascinating to see this moral tension play out with several moderators attempting to monetize their status in the multi-million-member community through books, movie deals, and NFTs, only to be rejected and cast out of the discord or subreddit.
Overall, it showed a modern day populist revolution, complete with anger, power struggles, fanatics, leadership crises, banishment, and billions of dollars of losses.
Most of all, I sympathize with the individuals like u/zjz who poured their heart and soul into moderating and maintaining an internet forum that would shake the country, but who received nothing financially out of their efforts while Reddit capitalized on their success. It was fascinating to see this moral tension play out with several moderators attempting to monetize their status in the multi-million-member community through books, movie deals, and NFTs, only to be rejected and cast out of the discord or subreddit.
Overall, it showed a modern day populist revolution, complete with anger, power struggles, fanatics, leadership crises, banishment, and billions of dollars of losses.
July 22, 2024
I am not an expert on financial markets, stocks, and trading. I am more in line with other Gen Xers described in the book—index funds are more my speed. But like millions of others, I was riveted by the GameStop story. That’s what brought me to the book—but having just finished reading it, I now realize how much more there is to the story—before and after GameStop.
I think Nathaniel Popper does an incredible job of telling a complex story in a very accessible way—especially for those of us less familiar with markets and the vocabulary around them. I was compelled by the story-telling of the people and the events surrounding WallStreetBets as well as the analysis of those who make up this subreddit group, and the influence they had and have on the whole industry.
The book is well researched, easy to read, and was—for me—a page turner. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
I think Nathaniel Popper does an incredible job of telling a complex story in a very accessible way—especially for those of us less familiar with markets and the vocabulary around them. I was compelled by the story-telling of the people and the events surrounding WallStreetBets as well as the analysis of those who make up this subreddit group, and the influence they had and have on the whole industry.
The book is well researched, easy to read, and was—for me—a page turner. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Read
October 2, 2024I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The Trolls of Wall Street by Nathaniel Popper takes you for a wild ride through the ups and down of trading meme stocks. Go behind the scenes of the WallStreetBets subreddit to find out what really happened with GameStop, AMC, and Robinhood. If you ever wondered how a group of young investors controlled the markets and went after the big banks and investment firms, this is the book for you. Millions made, and millions lost, all in a matter of hours.
Thank you for giving me this opportunity to write a review. The Trolls of Wall Street is currently for sale at your favorite bookstore. #goodreads #DeyStreet
Thank you for giving me this opportunity to write a review. The Trolls of Wall Street is currently for sale at your favorite bookstore. #goodreads #DeyStreet
June 16, 2025
One of the most disturbing aspects of this book was learning about the fact that Reddit employees were going into the Wall Street Bets subreddit and deleting posts without informing the moderators that they were doing so.
This just proved to me that nothing is sacrosanct in this world, and everything is censored secretly or not-so-secretly.
I didn't know about all of the Wall Street Bets moderator infighting until reading this book either, and it just goes to show you that everyone, even the most devout individuals against something eventually bend the knee and cave to enrich themselves in the end.
This just proved to me that nothing is sacrosanct in this world, and everything is censored secretly or not-so-secretly.
I didn't know about all of the Wall Street Bets moderator infighting until reading this book either, and it just goes to show you that everyone, even the most devout individuals against something eventually bend the knee and cave to enrich themselves in the end.
August 5, 2024
This was an insightful look into the originations of r/wallstreetbets - I was surprised to learn it originally started off as a forum to discuss proper, fundamental investing. Along the way, as with many things on the Internet, it morphed into something else altogether.
Another interesting insight was into how much work moderators put into moderating these forums. So much of it is manual and done for free by users who genuinely believe in the community and the purpose it stands for.
Another interesting insight was into how much work moderators put into moderating these forums. So much of it is manual and done for free by users who genuinely believe in the community and the purpose it stands for.
February 7, 2025
People write blogs about books, this one is a turn around when someone writes a book about a website (forum to be specific)
Quite detailed take on how a group of retail investors took the stock market for a ride by joining hands. The book is well written and there are good back stories to the main narration.
Overall it’s a brilliant read and keeps you hooked, though there are many repetitive takes to what’s happening on the social media (reditt )
Quite detailed take on how a group of retail investors took the stock market for a ride by joining hands. The book is well written and there are good back stories to the main narration.
Overall it’s a brilliant read and keeps you hooked, though there are many repetitive takes to what’s happening on the social media (reditt )
February 28, 2025
87%
I really like this book because as someone that was professional quants trading and entering at the time, this does paint a clear picture and some of the more parabolic and famous situations within the market. A lot of these stocks are well researched but most of it when we get into these popular things they aren't based off from fundamentals or statistics is just people pushing Trends and crowds and jumping on what's hot, which is right about when it starts to fail most of the time.
I really like this book because as someone that was professional quants trading and entering at the time, this does paint a clear picture and some of the more parabolic and famous situations within the market. A lot of these stocks are well researched but most of it when we get into these popular things they aren't based off from fundamentals or statistics is just people pushing Trends and crowds and jumping on what's hot, which is right about when it starts to fail most of the time.
June 11, 2024
Doesn’t do justice to all the loopholes and advantages Wall Street has over retail. Doesn’t acknowledge the elephant in the room, market manipulation from hedge funds and big players, along w the media, drove young investors to alternative discussions like wsb. They make the rules and they change them if retail understands. This book isn’t worth the paper it is printed on.
June 11, 2024
Cute loveletter to wallstreet that disregards the realities retail investors deal with. I'm sure the author is aware, it was just too tempting to punch down on the news for an audience. I'm sure Kenny and Stevie and Andrew will throw extra crickets in his terrarium tonight for being such a good lackey.
June 11, 2024
Outlandish assertions lacking substantial proof. It's a pointless endeavor that contributes minimally to any argument. This book is akin to a child seeking attention by provoking reactions. It's a blatant attempt to make money, destined to end up on discount shelves in dollar stores in the near future.
February 5, 2025
It was a bit repetitive at times. The author could have waited for Rogozinksi's lawsuit to finish before publishing the book. That said, the book was an entertaining read. It gave a good detailed history of WallStreetBets: the origins, the civil wars, the coups, the meme stock phase. It's amazing how technology enabled the masses to combine forces to take on the hedge funds and win.
April 24, 2025
Fantastic history and overview of the Gamestop stock and Wall Street Bets. Also introduces you to Reddit and 4Chan culture which I found beneficial as well. I didn't find myself quite as engaged as his history of Bitcoin book, but it was well researched and covered everything I had hoped it would so I gotta give it a perfect rating.
June 11, 2024
Poorly researched and inarticulate - likely propaganda. Likening retail investors to trolls, insurgents, and outcasts and somehow blaming them for the failings of a market that is designed to abuse them seems sociopathic at best and criminal at worst.
Your time will come.
Your time will come.
June 11, 2024
Ah yes—"retail"—the big, bad, scary, nasty, meanies who are stealing from the poor folks on Wall St. who are just trying to make an honest living. Wouldn't bother reading except for perverse amusement.
September 2, 2024
I was hoping for more than just a story about r/WallStreetBets. The title of the book implies that it would be broader in scope.
That aside, it was an interesting look into the politics and history of this strange little corner of the internet.
That aside, it was an interesting look into the politics and history of this strange little corner of the internet.
November 5, 2024
The Trolls of Wall Street captures the unpredictable shifts in the U.S. stock market from 2021 to 2024, highlighting how retail investors and corporate missteps reshaped finance. Lot of detail on who’s who and insane how some GameStop investors made hundreds of millions.
June 11, 2024
Terribly inaccurate. Clearly wall st funded propaganda.
July 29, 2024
Another account of the meme stock frenzy from early 2021, this one more of a focus upon and history of the wall street bets subreddit.
Well written, well researched, easily read.
Well written, well researched, easily read.
September 21, 2024
The Trolls of Wall Street contains more political misinformation from the left.
October 6, 2024
This was a very interesting read. I won this book from a Goodreads giveaway. I found it to be full of information about today's markets and how social media has influenced and disrupted the markets.
October 7, 2024
Interesting story - 3.5/4ish. Captured the wildness of the time - would be interesting to revisit 5 years from now to see where the Reddit mods are
October 7, 2024
Like reading through a Reddit archive.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews