"Stonks" is a deliberate misspelling of "stocks". It is internet slang for shares, and also for crypto assets. Merriam-Webster lists it as humorous slang. People mostly use it ironically: to joke about a trade going badly, to mock overconfidence, or to react to a price move that has no obvious reason behind it. The word comes from a 2017 meme of a character called Meme Man. It reached a mass audience in January 2021, during the GameStop short squeeze.
The definition
Dictionary.com defines stonks as "a deliberate misspelling of stocks, as traded in the stock market". It says the word is a generic, humorous way to refer to stocks, "especially when they have dropped". It is also used for situations where someone believes they are making a profit and is not, and for self-inflicted mistakes that have nothing to do with money.
Merriam-Webster's slang entry also treats it as humorous slang for shares in a company. The entry notes that it is used to mock financial ignorance, to point at viral meme stocks, or to flag a misguided effort. Merriam-Webster's "Words We're Watching" note adds that the word often works as an interjection. It is a one-word reaction posted under someone's financial decision, not just a noun that stands in for "stocks".
One point of confusion: Dictionary.com notes that the slang has no link to the older military word "stonk", which means to bombard with artillery.
Stonk or stonks?
- Stonks is the standard form. It is the caption of the original meme and the form you will see most often.
- Stonk is the singular. It is rarer, and it is easy to confuse with the military word.
- Not stonks is the reversal, used when prices fall or a plan backfires. Dictionary.com records this riff.
Where it came from
- Meme Man. This surreal 3D-rendered head was a recurring character on the Facebook page "Special meme fresh" from 2014.
- 5 June 2017. That page posted Meme Man in front of a stock-market image, captioned "STONKS". Know Your Meme records this as the first appearance. Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com both date the meme to 2017.
- July 2017. The image was reposted to the subreddit r/Ooer, according to Know Your Meme. Dictionary.com says it spread mainly on Reddit in 2018 and 2019.
- January 2021. Dictionary.com says the term reached mainstream media during the "stock market war" over GameStop shares, driven largely by r/WallStreetBets.
The joke depends on the misspelling. The character has the look of a confident financial expert and the understanding of someone who cannot spell the word. That gap between looking sure and knowing very little is what "stonks" still points at.
The GameStop moment
According to the SEC staff report on early-2021 market conditions (published 18 October 2021), GameStop's intraday share price rose about 2,700% from its intraday low on 8 January 2021 to its intraday high on 28 January 2021. It then fell by more than 86%. The SEC described GameStop as having experienced "a confluence of all of the factors that impacted the meme stocks".
On 26 January 2021, Elon Musk tweeted "Gamestonk!!" with a link to r/wallstreetbets. The tweet went out just after the market closed. Wikipedia's Meme Man article and contemporary coverage report that GameStop shares rose sharply in after-hours trading afterwards. Reported figures range from more than 60% to 157%, depending on the outlet and the time of measurement. This is the best-documented moment when the meme's vocabulary reached a mass audience.
How "stonks" went from meme to mainstream
Step through the dated moments that took a misspelled meme caption from one Facebook page to a mass audience.
- 2014Meme Man appearsdone
A surreal 3D-rendered head called Meme Man becomes a recurring character on the Facebook page "Special meme fresh".
- 5 June 2017The "STONKS" captiondone
The page posts Meme Man in front of a stock-market image captioned "STONKS". Know Your Meme records this as the first appearance.
- July 2017Reposted to Redditdone
Know Your Meme says the image was reposted to the subreddit r/Ooer.
- 2018–2019Spread on Redditdone
Dictionary.com says the meme spread mainly on Reddit in these years.
- 8–28 January 2021GameStop squeezedone
The SEC staff report says GameStop's intraday price rose about 2,700% from its 8 January low to its 28 January high, then fell by more than 86%.
- 26 January 2021"Gamestonk!!"uncertain
Elon Musk tweets "Gamestonk!!" just after the close. Reported after-hours gains range from more than 60% to 157%, depending on the outlet.
- January 2021Mainstream mediadone
Dictionary.com says the term reached mainstream media during the "stock market war" over GameStop shares.
- 18 October 2021SEC staff reportdone
The SEC publishes its staff report on early-2021 market conditions, describing GameStop as a confluence of the factors that hit meme stocks.
This shows only dated moments the article documents. It does not track how often the word is used in crypto chat, and it says nothing about any asset's price.
How it is used in crypto chat
Crypto trades around the clock and moves fast, so it gives the meme constant material. In practice the word turns up in three ways.
- A shrug at a pump. A token rises with no news, and someone replies "stonks". The point is that nobody can explain the move.
- Self-mockery after a loss. "Bought the top. Not stonks." The word turns a bad trade into a shared joke.
- Mocking certainty. It is posted in reply to someone sure that a price can only rise, often just before or after it falls.
How to read it
A "stonks" post is a mood, not a reason. When a thread under a token fills with the word, the people posting are usually telling you they do not know why it is moving. Treat it the way you would treat any meme reaction: as a sign of attention and sentiment, not as information about the asset. The GameStop episode is the reference case. Attention can move a price very far in a few days, and the SEC figures above show it can also take most of that rise back within days.
Related slang: HODL
The best-documented crypto slang term with a clear origin is "HODL". On 18 December 2013, a BitcoinTalk user called GameKyuubi posted a thread titled "I AM HODLING", typo included. The poster's first line was: "I type d that tyitle twice because I knew it was wrong the first time. Still wrong." The reading "Hold On for Dear Life" came later. Like "stonks", HODL is a misspelling that stuck because it captured a feeling about markets.
Limitations
Slang usage is documented mainly by dictionaries and meme archives, not by primary records. Musk's tweet and the after-hours move come from secondary reporting, and outlets give different percentages.
