I built a real-time sentiment tracker for WallStreetBets and trading subreddits ...

philipwhiuk · 2026-02-10T19:12:41 1770750761

> Detecting sarcasm in WSB posts ("this stock is going to the moon " could mean anything)

So how does it do this?

shawnmfarnum · 2026-02-10T19:17:33 1770751053

Great question! It's honestly still imperfect, but here's what helps:

1. Context signals: Emoji ratio (too many often = sarcasm), account age, previous comment sentiment in the thread

2. Corroboration: If someone says "to the moon" but options flow shows puts, or there's no volume spike, it gets weighted down

3. Cross-subreddit divergence: If WSB is bullish but r/stocks is bearish on the same ticker, it's often a meme pump

4. Keyword patterns: "bagholding", "loss porn", "wife's boyfriend" = usually ironic/sarcastic context

5. OpenAI sentiment with ticker-specific context: passing the post + surrounding comments helps vs. analyzing in isolation

The bigger challenge is that WSB uses sarcasm TO BE sarcastic but also ironically serious sometimes. So I don't try to be 100% accurate - instead, I show confidence scores and let users decide.

Would love feedback on better approaches if you've worked on this problem!