Members of the subreddit are often young retail traders and investors who ignore fundamental investment practices and risk management techniques, so their activities are often considered gambling. The subreddit, describing itself through the tagline 'Like 4chan found a Bloomberg terminal', is known for its aggressive trading strategies, which primarily revolve around highly speculative, leveraged options trading. The community is run by u/OPINION_IS_UNPOPULAR, who has moderated the community for over 9 years. It has become notable for its colorful and profane jargon, aggressive trading strategies, and for playing a major role in the GameStop short squeeze that caused losses for some US firms and short sellers in a few days in early 2021.

R/wallstreetbets, also known as WallStreetBets or WSB, is a subreddit where participants discuss stock and option trading.