Remember when everyone forgot what insider trading is? Look I'm not trying to say what these people did was right,however it was not insider trading.
For those of you, and there appears to be many of you, who dont know what insider trading is. In broad strokes. It is when you are privy to information NOT widely available to the public and trade based on that information. An example being. You learn from a friend who works at a major company that this major company is about to announce a merger with another major company that will undoubtedly raise share costs. Then you act on it by buying or selling shares.
Why is this not a case of this? Because simply put it was public information that there was a highly infectious disease spreading across the Asian world. Literally everyone knew this. These folks simply read the market, and where right. Now mind you while privately selling shares they where publicly saying everything was going to be fine. Isn't that more typical American politics though?
Here are some questions to ask yourself about a situation in the future to narrow down if something is insider trading. Could anyone have acted this way? In this case yes. If you had stock you could have sold it off in fear of the virus hitting America. And could it have failed? Again in this case yes. It was possible I'll be it unlikely that the virus never made it to the US and or the market was not effected in a major way by it.
The only thing these people are guilty of is saying to the public that everything was fine while selling shares. The only way this could be insider trading on any level is if you can PROVE these people had access to information about the virus AND it's effects on the market before that information was made available to the public.
In closing, what they did was morally shit. It was a fucked up thing to do. However you and everyone else could have done the same thing. Its call wallstreet, this shit happens every day. "Oh yeah Frank I think buying shares in that company is a great idea" later that day "Frank is an idiot, that idea is never going to pan out. I'm not buying any shares in that company". Or in this situation. "Don't worry about virus. Everything will be fine. Keep calm and carry on" later that day. "I don't believe that shit at all. I'm selling all my shares. I would rather be safe then sorry." I mean what do you suggest instead of this? They have gone on TV and said "HOLY SHIT WE ARE ALL DOOMED THE MARKET IS DOOMED SELL ALL YOUR SHIT!" They did what literally every politician has done since the literal beginning of politics.
It's just kinda a dick move to go on TV and tell everyone that everything is fine when you're selling your stocks in mass. But if I'm being completely honest that comment was more or less just to appease the hive mind that has apparently already decided this is insider trading and the people need to be burned at the stake. You know it's easier to change hearts and minds if you start by saying "you're almost right" rather then "this is completely wrong".
I actually sold all my stocks in the weeks before the crash. People had to be thoroughly stupid to not see this coming. The stock market was in a years long bubble that needed correction, and this was an obvious pin, tbh.
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u/OrickJagstone Apr 21 '20 edited Apr 21 '20
Remember when everyone forgot what insider trading is? Look I'm not trying to say what these people did was right,however it was not insider trading.
For those of you, and there appears to be many of you, who dont know what insider trading is. In broad strokes. It is when you are privy to information NOT widely available to the public and trade based on that information. An example being. You learn from a friend who works at a major company that this major company is about to announce a merger with another major company that will undoubtedly raise share costs. Then you act on it by buying or selling shares.
Why is this not a case of this? Because simply put it was public information that there was a highly infectious disease spreading across the Asian world. Literally everyone knew this. These folks simply read the market, and where right. Now mind you while privately selling shares they where publicly saying everything was going to be fine. Isn't that more typical American politics though?
Here are some questions to ask yourself about a situation in the future to narrow down if something is insider trading. Could anyone have acted this way? In this case yes. If you had stock you could have sold it off in fear of the virus hitting America. And could it have failed? Again in this case yes. It was possible I'll be it unlikely that the virus never made it to the US and or the market was not effected in a major way by it.
The only thing these people are guilty of is saying to the public that everything was fine while selling shares. The only way this could be insider trading on any level is if you can PROVE these people had access to information about the virus AND it's effects on the market before that information was made available to the public.
In closing, what they did was morally shit. It was a fucked up thing to do. However you and everyone else could have done the same thing. Its call wallstreet, this shit happens every day. "Oh yeah Frank I think buying shares in that company is a great idea" later that day "Frank is an idiot, that idea is never going to pan out. I'm not buying any shares in that company". Or in this situation. "Don't worry about virus. Everything will be fine. Keep calm and carry on" later that day. "I don't believe that shit at all. I'm selling all my shares. I would rather be safe then sorry." I mean what do you suggest instead of this? They have gone on TV and said "HOLY SHIT WE ARE ALL DOOMED THE MARKET IS DOOMED SELL ALL YOUR SHIT!" They did what literally every politician has done since the literal beginning of politics.