Live data from Hacker News

$70M in 60 Seconds: How Insider Info Helped Someone 28x Their Money

data-and-politics.ghost.io

171–180 of 480 posts

Re: $70M in 60 Seconds: How Insider Info Helped Someone 28x Their Money

#171
post #64
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So I would like some data about whether similar options were bought on other days in similar volumes. The volumes are there for all to see and the answer is no.

Could you do the rest of us a favour who don't know how to look up volumes on spy options, and post a link?

I think Wall Street would love to know the secret formula that can detect fraud and insider trading by analyzing trade volume in real-time that apparently hundreds of people in this very forum all seem to be aware of.

I'm surprised if they would let the trades go through at all once they know the secret.

Re: $70M in 60 Seconds: How Insider Info Helped Someone 28x Their Money

#172
post #102

Who lost money during this deal? Or generally who indirectly paid these lucky gamblers?

Who lost money? It’s difficult to say, because the purchase of those calls did not really tipped the market in any direction, but just provided liquidity for the sale of those call options.

Whoever shorted those calls made some money in the contracts, but they were going to lose money anyway the moment of the announcement.

Re: $70M in 60 Seconds: How Insider Info Helped Someone 28x Their Money

#174
post #142

As a foreigner I cannot comment on this, else I will be rejected at the airport by the ICE. That's called freedom my friends.

Rejected is somewhat euphemistic, you might be:

- held for an indefinite time without due process and information what you did wrong

- stripped naked and spilled with cold water

- potentially worse, but that depends entirely on the way things are developing on a day-by-day basis

And if someone thinks that won't happen to them because they come from a western country and have a low eumelanin pigmentation level, recent examples show that this does not matter¹. Remember ICE also appears to want to police "illegal ideas" at the border now².

These arbitrary arrests, a disregard for the Rule of Law and the valuation of loyalty to the cause over predictable consequences fit the despotic style that is encouraged in the US from the top down lately. The world would be wise not continue betting all their cards on a crazy horse.

¹: Germany, Feb 2025 – Tourist held 16 days at border, deported without clear reason. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-immigration-detaining-europe... UK, Mar 2025 – Backpacker held 3 weeks at Canada border, no charges. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/22/tourism-trum... Germany, Mar 2025 – Visitor held 45 days under Visa Waiver, unclear why. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/u-s-detention-of-european... Canada, Mar 2025 – Woman with valid visa held 12 days at border. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-immigration-detaining-europe... UK, Mar 2025 – Punk band denied entry, detained at LAX. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/22/tourism-trum... Germany, Mar 2025 – Green card holder detained at Boston airport. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/22/tourism-trum... Multiple, Mar 2025 – ICE arrested 48 in NM; cause/details unclear. https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/the-mystery-of-ices-...

²: ICE posted a very "unfortunate" marketing picture recently: https://www.newsweek.com/ice-illegal-ideas-border-security-s...

Re: $70M in 60 Seconds: How Insider Info Helped Someone 28x Their Money

#175
What actually is the point of selling someone an option? Do enough people buy them and lose to make it worthwhile for the seller? Isn't this literally just legalised gambling? Are there enough addicts to make it lucrative like other gambling? Or are these resold packaged up into something that nobody reads à la synthetic CDOs?

Re: $70M in 60 Seconds: How Insider Info Helped Someone 28x Their Money

#176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except the military.

Alas, the military answers to the president. Article II Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, "the President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States." Not that the constitution matters ...

  U.S. law requires the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to have served as the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the chief of staff of the Army, the chief of naval operations, the chief of staff of the Air Force, the commandant of the Marine Corps, or the commander of a unified or specified combatant command.

  Just after 2:00 a.m. eastern time this morning, the Senate confirmed Retired Air Force Lieutenant General John Dan Caine, who goes by the nickname “Razin,” for chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff by a vote of 60–25.

  Although Caine has 34 years of military experience, he did not serve in any of the required positions.

  The law provides that the president can waive the requirement if “the President determines such action is necessary in the national interest,” and he has apparently done so for Caine.

  The politicization of the U.S. military by filling it with Trump loyalists is now, as Kendall writes, “indisputable.”
~ Letters from an American (April 11, 2025) Heather Cox Richardson - https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-11-2025

Re: $70M in 60 Seconds: How Insider Info Helped Someone 28x Their Money

#177

Whenever I see similar articles I get reminded that all these are worthless paperless money, exchanging hands and playing a game. Futures, options, securities (and all the rest financial jargon) proves that there is a very big economic game at play in a global scale. No wonder the whole planet owes some trillions (to whom?) :-) There is no need for scientists to prove we’re living inside a simulation, this whole glob…

Do you have medical insurance ? Or car insurance? I guess you and I guess you find them useful.

All these worthless paperless money as you call it are precisely also instruments for companies and individuals to gain some economical stability during uncertain times by buying contracts and shifting the risk to someone else that has either more financial means or has worked to have a better view of future conditions.

So as an example, your medical insurer and your car insurer know pretty well the odds of you needing either medical treatment or suffering some type of car accident. And because they also have the financial means to risk being wrong, they offer you an insurance, because in the aggregated number they are usually right in their predictions.

Re: $70M in 60 Seconds: How Insider Info Helped Someone 28x Their Money

#178
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not just sad to watch . Would a country with a low-trust business environment be allowed to have such a huge mountain of government debt, and continue to have its currency be the world's reserve currency? A lot of sadness hinges on those considerations.

I know I’ll be downvoted but, since we’re going straight for scorched land, I prefer to voice it. I think most voters think like me “I still prefer Trump to a leftist government”: - Was there any need to be so extreme in terms of wokeness on the left? I am directly threatened by their program. Was there really any need to go for such a degree of revolution, ensuring everyone sensical would vote Trump? Could the left…

> I am directly threatened by their program. […] Could the left imagine being a little more democratic and making a few more concessions towards… omg, white males?

I am not from the US, I am originally from Latin America. I am considered a “white male” there. I am now living in Europe as I am a dual citizen. This kind of position is interesting to me. What is so bad about being a white male in the USA at the moment?

I’d like to elaborate further, but I want to engage in an honest conversation so I would like to hear your opinion.

Re: $70M in 60 Seconds: How Insider Info Helped Someone 28x Their Money

#179

The follow-up post shows the whole magnitude of the insider trading: > My previous post highlighted a striking example: how a single $2.5 million options position turned into $70 million in under an hour. But focusing solely on that trade risks missing the larger picture. What we actually saw was widespread activity. Numerous sophisticated traders carefully placing positions across several strike prices ($504, $505,…

How can the average MAGA voter which waves a little flag at a rally feel ok with this?

It's treason what they did, treason on their principles. All this in times when it was supposedly "Main Street" turn.

https://x.com/SecScottBessent/status/1910000578198986822

Post reply on HN