Wsb Attention Alpha
In plain terms
When WallStreetBets suddenly piles into a name AND the chart is already trending up, that's a 2-5 day continuation. When they pile in and the chart isn't cooperating, ride the fade once the noise dies down a week later.
How it works
ApeWisdom aggregates daily mentions from r/WallStreetBets and adjacent retail subreddits. Two distinct sub-edges: (a) mention spike + uptrend → 2-5 day continuation (squeeze-setup tail, Cookson-Engelberg-Mullins 2023 RFS); (b) mention spike with no uptrend → 5-20 day mean-reversion (attention-tax tail, Da-Engelberg-Gao 2011 JF social-media extension). We use own-name 60d trend to route between the two regimes.
Data dependencies
- Wsb mentions
A data feed this strategy reads, refreshed on its normal schedule.
Expected edge
- Reported return
- Continuation 2-3% over 5d; fade 4-7% over 15d (era-dependent)
- Tested over
- 2018-2024
Continuation tail: 2-3% over 5d on squeeze setups; fade tail: 4-7% short premium on post-spike reversion in the 2021-2024 retail era.
Example tickers where this is likely to fire
Illustrative only, the signal fires based on the live data, not a fixed list.
Related families
When Google searches for a ticker spike abnormally, retail piles in and overpays. Short-term the price runs, then mean-reverts.
Abnormal Wikipedia pageviews for a ticker predict a 2-week rally then a year-out reversal. Cleaner than Google Trends per Pyun 2024.
Combines three squeeze precursors (borrow rate + SEC threshold list + Wikipedia attention) into one composite — when all three fire, squeeze is loaded.
When 13F filer concentration is at multi-year highs AND price is rolling over with vol expansion, expect forced-deleveraging cascade. Mirror of squeeze.
Explore Wsb Attention Alpha on alphactor.ai
See which tickers this family is currently firing on, with live signals and rankings.