Live data from Hacker News

TikTokers Are Trading Stocks by Copying What Members of Congress Do

text.npr.org

11–20 of 196 posts

Re: TikTokers Are Trading Stocks by Copying What Members of Congress Do

#11
post #4

I'm not a market expert, but... my gut tells me this would have some kind of corrective effect, wouldn't it? Amplifying the inside information, allowing others to capitalize on it, would even out the unfairness of the privileged position in some roundabout way, wouldn't it? Obviously scaled by the number of people actually doing this, and with how much money Or- would it have the opposite effect? Would it actually gi…

> I'm not a market expert, but... my gut tells me this would have some kind of corrective effect, wouldn't it? Amplifying the inside information, allowing others to capitalize on it, would even out the unfairness of the privileged position in some roundabout way, wouldn't it? Wouldn't it just help the Congressmen's portfolios? A bunch of people buying after they do would help drive up the price of their investments.

Yeah, you're right. Though I still wonder if it could have an effect of raising awareness (and ire from certain parties) about this problem

Company A is about to be impacted by some legislation, congressperson B makes some "small" trades accordingly, then a bunch of people pick up on those trades and do the same thing, causing that company's price to spike or plummet in a way that's very clearly artificial and unfair either to the company or its competitors (or just traders who are upset about volatility)

Seems like a decent way to force the wealthy to care about this kind of insider-trading as a political issue

Re: TikTokers Are Trading Stocks by Copying What Members of Congress Do

#12
> "We don't want this to ... be a left vs. right thing. We don't really care. We just want to make money," he said.

You know what? That's a great idea. I love it.

Also didn't know husbands and wives in Congress had to disclose which stocks they bought because of the Stock Act. Very cool.

Re: TikTokers Are Trading Stocks by Copying What Members of Congress Do

#15
post #4

I'm not a market expert, but... my gut tells me this would have some kind of corrective effect, wouldn't it? Amplifying the inside information, allowing others to capitalize on it, would even out the unfairness of the privileged position in some roundabout way, wouldn't it? Obviously scaled by the number of people actually doing this, and with how much money Or- would it have the opposite effect? Would it actually gi…

It would have the opposite effect. If everyone buys stock after you do, you make money because the stock price goes up. I would love it if everyone followed my stock purchases after the fact.

Yeah, it's even big market. "Successful" traders start paid newletters with stock alerts so people can follow their trades.

Re: TikTokers Are Trading Stocks by Copying What Members of Congress Do

#17
post #4

I'm not a market expert, but... my gut tells me this would have some kind of corrective effect, wouldn't it? Amplifying the inside information, allowing others to capitalize on it, would even out the unfairness of the privileged position in some roundabout way, wouldn't it? Obviously scaled by the number of people actually doing this, and with how much money Or- would it have the opposite effect? Would it actually gi…

Well, every hedge fund/market maker has already been aware of this and they're managing far more money than the TikTokers so they move markets a lot more than TikTok.

So yeah, I don't think this really changes anything and all this information should already be priced in by the time the majority of TikTokers are trading on it.

I really wish there was some data on the type of returns Robinhood traders are getting (people who trade actively).

I'd definitely wager they're not beating the S&P 500 and they're getting even more screwed by short term capital gains tax rates (since their holding period is probably less than a year).

Re: TikTokers Are Trading Stocks by Copying What Members of Congress Do

#19
Honestly people need to step back and ask if they're out-performing the market, and if so what risks they're taking to do so. Most portfolios are up over a 52 week period right now. I keep track of three numbers: what my risk-adjusted portfolio is doing, what my "fun money" portfolio is doing, and what the S&P 500 is doing. The numbers, correcting for holding periods, are 10.96%, 16.28%, 15.78%.

IOW the place I keep most of my money is underperforming $SPY and the hyper risky bets are barely out-performing $SPY.

I'd be fascinated to know what the Pelosi Portfolio is making YTD.

Re: TikTokers Are Trading Stocks by Copying What Members of Congress Do

#20
Members of congress should not own or trade stock, full stop.

I am so surprised that this is even legal, it gives an extremely unfair advantage to congress as they have inside info on military contracts, lawsuits and if govt. agencies initiate investigations into companies. You want to end corruption in politics(well make it less corrupt) then barring congress from owning and trading stocks and other related securities is a good start.

Post reply on HN