r/stocks rules, stats, and what to post

r/stocks calls itself the most serious place on Reddit for stock related discussions. People come here to talk about tickers, market news, and financial education, and the community points newcomers to a wiki with beginner and advanced topics on both investing and trading. The rules confirm the scope: almost any post related to stocks and investment is welcome, including pre IPO news, futures and forex related to stocks, and geopolitical or corporate events that signal risk. The people posting here want substance. They write about companies, markets, and how to think about investing, and they expect each other to bring real analysis rather than hype.

The first rule that decides survival is “Disclose related positions”, which says you must disclose any related open positions when discussing a particular stock or financial instrument. The second is “No spam or self-promotion”, which removes spam, ads, solicitations including referral links, market research for app development, and self-promotion posts or comments, and warns you might get banned. The third is “Context and Effort”, which says context and effort must be provided and that empty posts or empty posts with links are automatically removed, with low effort meme stock mentions also removed. The fourth is “No Robinhood posts”, which sends anything about the Robinhood app to /r/Robinhood and removes it here. The fifth is “No cryptocoin discussions unrelated to stocks”, which removes crypto posts unless the discussion is really about a stock, like the Coinbase IPO or a company's crypto revenue. The sixth is “No penny stock or OTC discussions”, which bans penny stocks, OTC, microcaps, pump and dumps, low vol pumps, and SPACs. The seventh is “Stay on topic”, which keeps the room on stocks and investment and allows removal of anything outside that. The eighth is “No trolling, insulting, or harassing”, which removes trolling, insults, and harassment, especially in posts requesting advice.

A good post here is a detailed, on topic contribution about stocks or investing. If you write about a particular stock, disclose any open positions you hold in it under “Disclose related positions”. Give real context and effort under “Context and Effort”, which means a full writeup with your reasoning, not a bare link or a one line meme stock mention. Stay inside the scope of “Stay on topic”, so company analysis, market news, financial education, pre IPO news, or geopolitical and corporate events that signal risk all fit. If you want to point at something useful, put it inside a post that stands on its own, because empty posts with links are automatically removed. For a founder, the honest play is to participate as a knowledgeable member: share genuine analysis or education, disclose your positions, and leave the product pitch at home, because self-promotion is banned outright.

The fastest removals come from the banned topics. Do not post about Robinhood, because “No Robinhood posts” says those are automatically removed. Do not post about bitcoin or crypto unless it is genuinely about a stock, because “No cryptocoin discussions unrelated to stocks” removes those too, and the rule gives the example that saying you bought bitcoins at Coinbase does not count while a post about Coinbase's bitcoin revenue does. Do not post about penny stocks, OTC, microcaps, pump and dumps, low vol pumps, or SPACs, because “No penny stock or OTC discussions” removes them and points you to other communities. Do not spam, advertise, solicit, drop referral links, or run market research for app development, because “No spam or self-promotion” removes those and you might get banned. Do not post an empty post or an empty post with a link, because “Context and Effort” says those are automatically removed, and low effort meme stock mentions go the same way. Do not troll, insult, or harass anyone, especially in posts requesting advice, because “No trolling, insulting, or harassing” removes that. And whenever you discuss a particular stock or instrument, “Disclose related positions” requires you to disclose any related open positions you hold.

What stands out to me is how many automatic removals this community has, from Robinhood posts to empty links, so the filters do a lot of the moderation before a human even reads you. The position disclosure rule is my favorite part, because it forces anyone talking up a ticker to show their stake first. There are no observed top posts for this community, so I would treat it as a place to earn trust with one careful, well sourced post rather than a place to test what sticks.