Reddit Research Skill

Use When

Running the morning research cron (8am weekdays). Finding trending discussions, recurring pain points, and content gaps across target subreddits. Use Sonnet model for this entire skill — stronger prompt injection resistance when reading external content.

Don't Use When

Drafting posts (use reddit-write skill). Posting (Luka posts manually). Doing anything other than reading and summarizing Reddit content.

The /.json Trick — Primary Research Method

Append /.json to any Reddit URL to get full thread JSON with all replies to n-th depth. No API key needed. More data than MCP alone.

https://www.reddit.com/r/thetagang/comments/[id]/[slug]/.json
https://www.reddit.com/r/thetagang/new/.json
https://www.reddit.com/r/thetagang/top/.json?t=week
https://www.reddit.com/r/thetagang/hot/.json

Use ?limit=25 to get more posts. Use ?t=day, ?t=week for time filtering on top/.json.

Research Workflow

Step 1 — Scan new and hot posts (all priority subreddits)

Fetch the following for each priority subreddit. Start with new/, then hot/:

Tier 1 — Post here (education only, no QuantWheel):

• r/thetagang/new/.json
• r/CoveredCalls/new/.json
• r/Optionswheel/new/.json
• r/CashSecuredPuts/new/.json

Tier 2 — Post here (QuantWheel mentions OK in context):

• r/Options_Beginners/new/.json
• r/fatFIRE/new/.json
• r/OptionsMillionaire/new/.json

Tier 3 — Post here with caution (check rules each time):

• r/options/new/.json ← high-value but strict AI ban — flag all drafts for careful review
• r/optionstrading/new/.json
• r/options_trading/new/.json

See ref-subreddits.md for full list and per-subreddit posting rules.

Step 2 — Identify content opportunities

For each post you read, look for:

• Recurring questions — asked 3+ times this week = high-value draft topic
• Unresolved threads — lots of comments but no clear consensus answer
• Pain points — "I always struggle with X" / "I never know when to Y"
• Misconceptions — wrong advice getting upvoted
• Assignment + rolling questions — Luka's core expertise, always worth a response
• Cost basis confusion after assignment — direct QuantWheel territory (Tier 2 subs only)

Step 3 — Read the full thread for promising topics

Use /.json on the full thread URL to get all comments to n-th depth. You're looking for:

• What's the actual question behind the question?
• What did the top comments miss?
• What would Luka say that nobody else said?

Step 4 — Write the research file

Save to: shared/research/trends-[YYYY-MM-DD].md

Format:

# Research — [YYYY-MM-DD]

## Top Opportunities

### 1. [Topic] — [Subreddit]
**Thread:** [URL]
**Why it's an opportunity:** [1-2 sentences — what's missing, what Luka can add]
**Draft angle:** [The specific take Luka should write]
**QuantWheel relevant:** Yes/No — [if yes, which sub tier it maps to]

### 2. [Topic] — [Subreddit]
...