{"slug":"not-stonks","name":"Not Stonks","alternateFormats":[{"slug":"not-stonks-blank","label":"Blank Template"}],"url":"/templates/not-stonks.jpg","w":640,"h":384,"top":"BAD DECISION","bottom":"NOT STONKS","description":"Not Stonks. Meme Man returns, but the chart has turned red and the arrows point down. For decisions that were never going to work out. Make your own financial disaster meme.","keywords":"not stonks meme, stinks meme, meme man losing, stock crash meme, bad investment meme, stinks guy","year":2019,"origin":"The inevitable counterpart to Stonks. Same 3D Meme Man, same business suit, but the stock chart behind him has collapsed into red. The word \"Not Stonks\" (sometimes \"Stinks\") replaced the triumphant original. Where Stonks celebrates delusional optimism, Not Stonks acknowledges that the plan failed. It surfaced around 2019 as the natural punchline for any situation where things went exactly as badly as you should have predicted. For the optimistic original, see Stonks. For a similar \"I knew this would happen\" energy, see Surprised Pikachu.","format":"classic","howToMake":["Not Stonks is loaded. The chart is already crashing","Top text describes the decision that led to the downturn. Bottom text is typically \"NOT STONKS\" or \"STINKS,\" confirming the failure everyone saw coming","The best Not Stonks memes involve situations where the outcome was completely predictable. The comedy is in the post-mortem, not the surprise","White Impact on black stroke against the red chart background. The red arrows already set the mood; your caption just names what went wrong","Loss documented. Download the PNG as evidence, or Copy it to share with anyone who warned you this would happen"],"exampleCaptions":["USED MY RENT MONEY TO BUY A CRYPTOCURRENCY CALLED \"DEFINITELY NOT A SCAM COIN\"","NOT STONKS"],"exampleAltText":"Not Stonks meme about losing rent money on a suspicious cryptocurrency","exampleRefreshDate":"2026-03-05","seo":{"aliases":["Stinks Meme","Meme Man Loss","Stock Crash Meme Man","Not Stonks Guy","Red Chart Meme"],"description":"The same featureless 3D head from Stonks, but the mood has shifted entirely. The stock chart behind Meme Man has turned blood red, arrows nosediving. His posture hasn't changed. He still stands in his suit as if nothing is wrong. But everything is wrong. The numbers are down, the plan failed, and the misspelled \"Not Stonks\" label confirms what the red already told you.","definition":"The losing counterpart to Stonks. Meme Man stands before a crashing red stock chart, paired with \"Not Stonks\" to mark any decision, investment, or life choice that went exactly as badly as predicted.","useCases":[{"category":"Actual Financial Disasters","examples":["Bought a stock at its all-time high. It has not returned to that price / Not Stonks","Invested in a friend's business that turned out to be selling essential oils / Not Stonks","Checked your crypto portfolio after ignoring it for 6 months / Not Stonks","Paid for overnight shipping on something that arrived in 5 business days anyway / Not Stonks","Refinanced at the exact wrong moment / Not Stonks"]},{"category":"Career & Job Moves","examples":["Quit your stable job for a startup that folded 3 months later / Not Stonks","Negotiated a raise and accidentally talked yourself into more responsibilities instead / Not Stonks","Turned down a job offer to wait for a \"better one\" that never came / Not Stonks","Moved to a new city for a job that went remote two weeks later / Not Stonks","Used your own money on office supplies because you were too embarrassed to expense them / Not Stonks"]},{"category":"Food & Cooking Losses","examples":["Bought organic produce. It went bad before you opened the bag / Not Stonks","Followed a recipe exactly and it came out looking nothing like the picture / Not Stonks","Meal prepped for the week. Ate out every single day / Not Stonks","Ordered the \"market price\" item without asking what the market price was / Not Stonks","Splurged on fancy ingredients and burned everything / Not Stonks"]},{"category":"Gaming Blunders","examples":["Spent all your in-game currency on a loot box and got duplicates / Not Stonks","Sold a rare item for cheap, then watched someone else resell it for 100x / Not Stonks","Pre-ordered a game that was unplayable at launch / Not Stonks","Bought the battle pass with 3 days left in the season / Not Stonks"]},{"category":"Time Investments Gone Wrong","examples":["Waited in line for 2 hours for a restaurant that turned out to be mediocre / Not Stonks","Binged an entire series only for it to get canceled on a cliffhanger / Not Stonks","Spent a week learning a skill that became obsolete the following month / Not Stonks","Drove 45 minutes to a store that was closed when you arrived / Not Stonks","Built an elaborate spreadsheet to track something you stopped caring about the next day / Not Stonks"]},{"category":"Relationship & Social Costs","examples":["Bought matching outfits for a relationship that ended the same week / Not Stonks","Planned a surprise party and the person didn't show up / Not Stonks","Spent 3 hours crafting the perfect text and got a thumbs-up emoji back / Not Stonks","Flew across the country for a date that lasted 20 minutes / Not Stonks","Named your WiFi network something clever and nobody has ever mentioned it / Not Stonks"]}]}}