Computer Trading Is Eyed • Hacker News Board

Re: Computer Trading Is Eyed

#11

Post by brisance » Sat, May 08, 2010, 3:26 PM UTC

cturner wrote: post #5

pak wrote: post #3

Whoever figures out a way to controlledly repeat this little freefall will get insanely rich. If you knew the DJIA or ACN were going to take these dives, shorting the market for this period would have made scads of money. It pains me to think that there are firms on Wall Street right now trying to figure out how to cause another 1000-point fluctuation and achieve the above. When so many traders make their money off o…

It pains me to think that there are firms on Wall Street right now trying to figure out how to cause another 1000-point fluctuation and achieve the above What you describe is not a sustainable business model. Not any more than spreading false rumours about companies and shorting them, or insider-trading in jurisdictions where it's outlawed. The guys at the SEC are not stupid. If the regulators had an idea that you we…

That seems too naive. We all know that Wall Street are full of crooks and are colluding with the government. Any of the directors involved in the mortgage bust served any jail time?

Re: Computer Trading Is Eyed

#12

Post by moe » Sat, May 08, 2010, 4:11 PM UTC

cturner wrote: post #10

jared314 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Selling insurance against massive fluctuations would be a sustainable business. You would solve the problem you created and profit both ways.

If there's a high chance of you going to jail each time you do it, that makes it non-sustainable.

Let me repeat brisance's question:

Any of the directors involved in the mortgage bust served any jail time?

Re: Computer Trading Is Eyed

#13

Post by barkingcat » Sat, May 08, 2010, 5:05 PM UTC

cturner wrote: post #10

jared314 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Selling insurance against massive fluctuations would be a sustainable business. You would solve the problem you created and profit both ways.

If there's a high chance of you going to jail each time you do it, that makes it non-sustainable.

What if there is a close to zero chance of you going to jail everytime you do it? When the government and the banks are in collusion, that's what you get.

Re: Computer Trading Is Eyed

#14

Post by cturner » Sat, May 08, 2010, 5:52 PM UTC

barkingcat wrote: post #13

cturner wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If there's a high chance of you going to jail each time you do it, that makes it non-sustainable.

What if there is a close to zero chance of you going to jail everytime you do it? When the government and the banks are in collusion, that's what you get.

We're talking about the stock market blip from this week. If you can demonstrate that this happened due to collusion between government and banks, please do.

Re: Computer Trading Is Eyed

#15

Post by cturner » Sat, May 08, 2010, 5:54 PM UTC

moe wrote: post #12

cturner wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If there's a high chance of you going to jail each time you do it, that makes it non-sustainable.

Let me repeat brisance's question: Any of the directors involved in the mortgage bust served any jail time?

Brisance's question wasn't relevant to what I'd said, or this thread, and that's why I didn't respond.

Re: Computer Trading Is Eyed

#16

Post by moe » Sun, May 09, 2010, 2:13 AM UTC

cturner wrote: post #15

moe wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me repeat brisance's question: Any of the directors involved in the mortgage bust served any jail time?

Brisance's question wasn't relevant to what I'd said, or this thread, and that's why I didn't respond.

How is his question not relevant?

You claim that there is a significant risk of going to jail for "Selling insurance against massive fluctuations".

That's a bit strange because these insurances (CDS) have been sold on a massive scale over the past years and are considered to be one of the main reasons for the crash. I did not hear about anyone going to jail for it, or did I just miss that part?

Re: Computer Trading Is Eyed

#17

Post by cturner » Sun, May 09, 2010, 8:25 AM UTC

moe wrote: post #16

cturner wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brisance's question wasn't relevant to what I'd said, or this thread, and that's why I didn't respond.

How is his question not relevant? You claim that there is a significant risk of going to jail for "Selling insurance against massive fluctuations". That's a bit strange because these insurances (CDS) have been sold on a massive scale over the past years and are considered to be one of the main reasons for the crash. I did not hear about anyone going to jail for it, or did I just miss that part?

No, my claim was that the following would put you in jail: (1) shorting markets and then (2) deliberately creating the sort of fluctuation we saw in the last week.

That's all I was commenting on in this thread.

(Selling "insurance" and it was wrongly labelled above wouldn't be profitable even if there weren't jail problems. The sell side loses money on a CDS when the market goes down. You'd want to buy CDSs for that eventuality, and CDSs are not insurance.)