5 Financial Subreddits You Should Be Following

*Disclaimer: this article is not to be taken as financial advice. It is a commentary on Reddit subreddits*

If you’re even vaguely familiar with social media today, you’d probably know that there are a few prominent giants. Facebook, Twitter, etc. Does Tumblr still count? Anyway. Of those giants, there’s another and it’s one you should be keeping an eye on.

Reddit.

You can find almost anything on Reddit. From self help advice, to funny memes, to communities revolving around your favourite hobbies and even your local area. And yet, for all of that, not many people (outside of Redditors themselves, anyway) talk about another gold mine of information. I’m talking about the financial world.

Anyone interested in finance, even marginally, would find it worthwhile to follow Reddit’s various financially-related subreddits. Each one is rich with information, commentary, and discussion. If you play your cards right, it can even be a great place to capitalize on for increased viewership and customer engagement; companies could stand to learn a lot from what people talk about on these boards. To that end, I have highlighted five boards that are absolutely worth your time.

r/cryptocurrency

If you are at all invested in cryptocurrencies, no matter what one, you owe it to yourself to check out r/cryptocurrency. A board that’s always buzzing with discussion and speculation, r/cryptocurrency boasts over 3 million members – no small feat – and 15k daily viewers (if not more during peak hours). With this many people who talk regularly on the board, as well as a swarm of new topics each day, there’s no shortage of analysis to be found here. If you look on the front page of this subreddit (i.e, the “hot” page), you can find posts reaching 5k to 10k+ upvotes. And those successful posts are brimming with news, questions, and insight.

That isn’t all the board has to offer, though. Dig a little deeper and you’ll find a built-in wiki with a network of various related subreddits. So, if you like this board, you might find yourself subscribing to 10 or more other boards for more specialized news and discussions. Those other boards can range from unique boards for each and every crypto coin out there, to boards marketed as “Bitcoin for beginners” or “Bitcoin in the UK.”

For any companies or journalists, it’d be worth publishing crypto-related articles onto this board. Not only does it have the potential to grab new readers and customers, but also provoke discussion about the article; any discussion is good discussion, after all.

r/wallstreetbets

If you remember the GameStop incident back in January, welcome to the source of it. You’ll find plenty of reports and findings about anything to do with the stock market. If you’re looking for new money sinks, or wanting to catch the next craze, or you just really love the memes they post there (there’s a lot of memes, and more on that later), you’d do well to keep an eye on this subreddit.

In comparison to r/cryptocurrency, r/wallstreetbets boasts an impressive 10+ million people and sees daily traffic of about 25~30k people online. Posts might see as little as 100~200 upvotes, or as high as about 5k upvotes, with not much middle ground – a post strikes big or it doesn’t. You see a mix of highs and lows on the board’s front page, anyway.

As or deeper information, you probably won’t find an exhaustive network like r/cryptocurrency, but you can find advice on what brokerages to support and what are blacklisted on the board.

A word of warning, however. WSB’s reasons for blacklisting are, but not limited to…

• Repeated attempts to shill products or services.
• Divert users from r/wallstreetbets to other subreddits or off-site.
• Monetize, in any way, the WSB userbase.
• Provide inaccurate market-related information. 

Rather than trying to directly dig one’s fingers into the board, one might find more success using this place for research. If something is being talked about heavily on WSB, it’s important.

r/personalfinance

This is a board catered to the individual, the normal, and the struggling. Not necessarily exclusive, either, since most people fall under two or all of those categories. People ask about budgeting, tell money-related stories (such as how they got scammed, or how they broke out of debt), and learn the basics of managing their finances. For people and companies invested in financial inclusion, as well as ways on how to streamline the process, this is the place for you. It’s important, and even moreso in today’s age, for the public’s voice to be heard.

Out of all the subreddits listed here, r/personalfinance stands as the largest one. It has nearly reached, as of this article, 15 million members. It only sees about 5k to 10k daily viewers, however, as it’s not as volatile or ever-changing as matters such as cryptocurrency or the stock market. Your average person might see this place more as a community-led self-help guide – a view that is only strengthened by the incredibly detailed wiki; they target advice to age groups, specific topics, as well as supplying a reading list and even creating 30 day challenges.

Not only would I recommend this subreddit to anyone who need help with their finances, but I would recommend this to larger groups or people looking to observe, to listen, and to notice trends. There’s no shortage of topics to be found here, after all.

r/investing

Not as volatile as r/wallstreetbets, but a place that sees plenty of advice and insight into the stock market from a more stable perspective. Questions about “should I invest in this?” News about where the economy is headed. Predictions and the consequences of crashes. If you’ve joined r/wallstreetbets, join r/investing as well. And if you didn’t, still join this subreddit. Even on the most informal, casual level of “I just want to invest a little,” this place can teach you how to invest, how you should invest, and how long investing can take to reap the profits.

r/investing sees about 2 million members, with around 2~3k people viewing daily, and the board isn’t as frantic or chaotic as some bigger boards – places where you’d see dozens of new topics each hour. This is slower. Methodical. Out of all topics sighted recently, the most common are questions, but the hottest threads are either the important insights or the daily advice and discussion threads. If you have any beginner questions not answered by their wiki, you’ll find no better place to ask than there!

(Fun fact, their slogan is “lose money with friends!” A common theory is that, since the subreddit was founded in 2008, it was initially a tongue-in-cheek joke about the market crash of 2008.)

r/MemeEconomy

This is the most unconventional out of all the subreddits listed here, but it’s listed here for a few reasons. It’s a practice ground. It’s a fun pasttime. It’s a window into how meme culture can even shape the financial world. The idea is simple; people are given a small wallet of fake, virtual currency – points, essentially – and they can invest that ‘money’ into meme templates. From the strangest stock images you can find, to the hottest and latest media screencaps, to even animated gifs and small video clips, people make meme templates out of anything.

Since all the currency thrown around is fake, it becomes a mini-game. A place where you can throw numbers at an image, see other people throw their own numbers at the image, and see the value of that picture rise. Or fall. It becomes its own stock market. There’s over a million members on this subreddit, with around 500 people viewing daily, and they even have their own discord, their own website, and a wiki section to help get you started!

But it’s also a window into meme culture. Memes, as rapid-fire jokes and internet punchlines, also make for social commentary and archiving the past. Remember the GameStop Incident mentioned earlier? Many people now remember that event through old memes. Even disasters and world-changing events are turned into memes, be they ironic or not, and the financial world is no different. If a meme catches attention, and it’s rooted in bringing awareness to some economic event, then there’s more to it than just “haha funny joke go wee.” It’s commentary.

To that extent, this also comes as a recommendation to literally any economic meme subreddit. r/cryptocurrencymemes, r/bitcoinmemes, any meme page will have good content nowadays.

Conclusion

That wraps up the list. Five subreddits, five recommendations, five places you should absolutely be watching. Take notes, do research, and partake in discussion. Don’t be insincere or shallow about it. Engage with people. Reddit has a reputation, and one that changes based on who you ask, but you can trust subreddits such as these to be a treasure trove of discussion, news, analysis, voices, and information. Hearing what they have to say can really educate you.

Once again, we would like to clearly and loudly stress that this article is just a commentary and is not a form of financial advice. All individuals must take personal responsibility with their actions and accurately assess the risks, rewards and realities before they attempt such a financial change.