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Unusual Stock Trading by Whales in US Congress

unusualwhales.com

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Re: Unusual Stock Trading by Whales in US Congress

#71

Post by BrianOnHN »

mattnewton wrote: post #63
BrianOnHN wrote: post #50

Similar from yesterday: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26807695 HN can't see the forest for the trees. Trading isn't the issue. Why are our top elected officials not compensated enough? Income inequality. If it isn't trading, they'll chase Bezos until they "get what they deserve" one way or another.

Honestly some of these trades also seemed small to me; anyone can make a trade that’s up 30% in a year with public information - they can also easily lose as much. It is only problematic when they consistently win by large percentages on the majority of their trades, and this doesn’t appear to do that kind of statistical analysis of average returns?

> this doesn’t appear to do that kind of statistical analysis of average returns?

Exactly, and you had to be really unlucky not to have significant returns over the past year.

Has anyone looked at their managed retirement find lately? I wouldn't be surprised if you see 30% even in a medium-risk fund.

Re: Unusual Stock Trading by Whales in US Congress

#72

Post by ek750 »

seph-reed wrote: post #64
mabbo wrote: post #9

The very people whose job it should be to stop this sort of thing are the ones who are profiting from it. How do you change this? No really, how can we force congress to change the rules so that elected officials can't profit from inside information? Why would they ever vote for such a bill?

The only reasonable way out is to create our own systems. You have to stop thinking top-down. Liquid democracy is something that can be built from the ground up, and has the potential to deprecate our modern system.

I think I agree in theory, but I think we've seen in practice that people are easily controlled by mass media. Wouldn't we just be moving the locus of control?

Re: Unusual Stock Trading by Whales in US Congress

#73

Post by LB232323 »

This is a really greasy website.

It's not the cheesy logo or the fact that they are ripping off other fintech companies, it's that they are selling get rich quick dreams like a scam artist.

This article is really an advertisement for their services and it's surprising that it went viral here. They are basically encouraging people to try and cash in on criminal financial activity in congress.

I can't put my trust in this site.

Re: Unusual Stock Trading by Whales in US Congress

#74

Post by lordnacho »

koube wrote: post #31
sakopov wrote: post #15

> For example, Pelosi in Dec 22 was against more stimulus. Her husband buys deep ITM TSLA and AAPL calls that day. December 23rd, she is suddenly for stimulus again, with those same companies ralling 5%, giving her an instant +30 return. > Congressman Gottheimer is absolutely an incredible options trader. He’s been selling calls at peaks on $MSFT all 2021, & seemingly buying back the contracts on dips. This in blocks…

Dec 22 democrats had reached an agreement to provide $600 in stimulus, this was an agreement that had buy in and should have been pushed forward. Dec 23 Trump announced support for a $2000 stimulus, changing the political calculus, in favor of democrats, who did eventually push through the remaining $1400 in a separate package. Pelosi's strategic change is not a change that happened in a vacuum. Trump's announcement…

As a member of Congress she has much better colour on what's about to happen than everyone else. She can basically count up the votes before before anyone else.

I'd rather live in a world where reps are squeaky clean. It's much better than one where we make up some rules where people who come right up to the line end up smelling bad, and then everyone is born complaining about the corruption and enduring it with no recourse.

Ultimately it's a rules vs discretion (aka judgement) question.

Re: Unusual Stock Trading by Whales in US Congress

#75

Post by intrepidhero »

mabbo wrote: post #9

The very people whose job it should be to stop this sort of thing are the ones who are profiting from it. How do you change this? No really, how can we force congress to change the rules so that elected officials can't profit from inside information? Why would they ever vote for such a bill?

If you think insider trading occurred, its already illegal and should be reported to the Office of Congressional Ethics. (https://oce.house.gov/learn/citizen-s-guide)

I'm frankly disturbed that this kind of specific trading by people in power is going on at all. Salaried federal employees above a certain level are strongly encouraged to invest only in generic mutual funds to avoid even the appearance of conflict of interest. When I look at the above trades I'm not sure whether anything technically illegal occurred but I'd support making all specific trading illegal to avoid even the appearance of unethical behavior. Higher powers deserve to be held higher standards.

Re: Unusual Stock Trading by Whales in US Congress

#76

Post by slaymaker1907 »

sethammons wrote: post #67
mabbo wrote: post #9

The very people whose job it should be to stop this sort of thing are the ones who are profiting from it. How do you change this? No really, how can we force congress to change the rules so that elected officials can't profit from inside information? Why would they ever vote for such a bill?

my naive solution: politicians become monks. They go without. They are provided modest housing and budgets. I'm sure there are zounds of issues with it, but I like to imagine servant leaders who go without to do more for the communities they serve.

That doesn't really solve the problem because how do we make them become monks? We already have a blueprint on how to hold them accountable: hold them to the same standard as those working in financial services with access to PII. Essentially make it impossible for them to be active traders; they can even still invest in ETFs and hands off advisors/roboadvisors like Betterment.

Re: Unusual Stock Trading by Whales in US Congress

#77

Post by munk-a »

mabbo wrote: post #9

The very people whose job it should be to stop this sort of thing are the ones who are profiting from it. How do you change this? No really, how can we force congress to change the rules so that elected officials can't profit from inside information? Why would they ever vote for such a bill?

We elect people who actually believe in governance instead of people out to make a buck. I know that everyone's going to act in their own interest (that's sorta how interests are defined) but some people feel a legitimate duty and loyalty to country and welfare above their own personal comfort - these people tend to be torpedoed very early on in US politics because they refuse to cozy up to special interests to play the campaign finance game but they do exist.

It's easy to be a thorough cynic in the modern world, but most people aren't out to con everyone else when they get the chance and, if a spotlight is shone on the problem, will respond that actions should be taken to make things more just.

Here's an article calling out the stock trading specifically around Covid treatment drugs with some congressmen and politicians calling out the behavior:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/aoc-calls-senate-i...

Re: Unusual Stock Trading by Whales in US Congress

#78

Post by jackdeansmith »

mabbo wrote: post #9

The very people whose job it should be to stop this sort of thing are the ones who are profiting from it. How do you change this? No really, how can we force congress to change the rules so that elected officials can't profit from inside information? Why would they ever vote for such a bill?

I feel like a good first step would be requiring that any assets over some small cutoff be held in a blind trust. It wouldn't solve all problems, but it sure would solve a lot.

Re: Unusual Stock Trading by Whales in US Congress

#80

Post by skapadia »

sethammons wrote: post #67
mabbo wrote: post #9

The very people whose job it should be to stop this sort of thing are the ones who are profiting from it. How do you change this? No really, how can we force congress to change the rules so that elected officials can't profit from inside information? Why would they ever vote for such a bill?

my naive solution: politicians become monks. They go without. They are provided modest housing and budgets. I'm sure there are zounds of issues with it, but I like to imagine servant leaders who go without to do more for the communities they serve.

I've had a similar thought on many occasions, but even then, they will find alternative ways to acquire wealth and power. The clergy of many religions, in aggregate, have a lot of wealth and power, even if the wealth is not directly in their name.

No system can prevent humans from exercising their basic instincts, emotions, urges, needs, and wants.

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