WallStreetBets.REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
WallStreetBets users plan to launch a meme book that documents last year’s GameStop short squeeze. The goal of the project is to “capture the moments in time when GameStop was all anyone was thinking about.” The project has raised $24,000 on Kickstarter, surpassing its funding goal of $20,000. Sign up here for our daily newsletter, 10 Things Before the Opening Bell. A book that compiles the most viral GameStop memes and posts from Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum could be coming soon, as the frenzy that launched the meme stock revolution marks its one-year anniversary this month.
WallStreetBets users calling themselves Diamond Hands History launched a Kickstarter fund to publish “Diamond Hands: The GME Archive.” Donation tiers start at $1 (“Baby Ape”) and continue to meme-related levels like $69 (“True Ape”), $420 (“Ape Chieftain”), and $10,000 (“Richer Than Your Wife’s Boyfriend”).
The creators set a fundraising goal of $20,000 for what they call the “epic book of GameStop” and have already surpassed it. There are currently 53 backers who have together staked over $24,000.
The goal of the project, per its Kickstarter description, is to “capture the moments in time when GameStop was all anyone was thinking about.”
The creators call it the “first project of this kind in history,” given the collaboration with and legal permission from thousands of social media users. They parsed through more than 10,000 posts as well as hundreds of thousands of comments for publication — all with consent from the original Reddit users.
“We decided to archive the most popular primary source documents related to the historic First and Second GameStop Squeezes,” reads the project description. “We aim to archive the best WallStreetBets memes, posts, and comments about GameStop into a single book.”
The Kickstarter page does note that the book puts the creators in potential legal jeopardy due to the images contained in the memes and copyright issues. A teaser of the project features photos of a GameStop billboard in Times Square, lists of quotes from social media, and a green-and-gold hardcover book sample.
The “Diamond Hands” book comes a year after Reddit day traders used the platform to upend the stock market and send GameStop surging. Experts saw the unconventional rally as a sign that the institutions were “losing some control.”
While shares of GameStop and other meme stocks have come off their highs, Wall Street is still keeping tabs on retail traders. Professional investors and trading desks at top banks like UBS have been monitoring the activities across social media and forums like WallStreetBets, which currently has over 11.5 million members.