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417 points mkmk | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
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xyzelement ◴[] No.37600439[source]
I don't know if this is genuinely suspicious or not. Is buying 20K of options an unusual thing? Or is this something that happens regularly with options expiring worthless or with a small gain - and it just happened to hit big this time?

IE "someone bought a lottery ticket and won" - interesting to know if they play the lottery every other day (and don't usually win?)

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trowawee ◴[] No.37600544[source]
"short-dated out-of-the-money call options that cash out a day after a merger/acquisition" is, like, the definition of a suspicious transaction. Somebody's gonna get a knock on the door from the SEC.
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mcast ◴[] No.37600594[source]
Maybe unless that person was a US senator/congressperson.
replies(2): >>37600997 #>>37601026 #
dmoy ◴[] No.37601026[source]
If they obtained info about this through their role as a senator/congressperson, and not just through normal channels. If I understand it correctly:

Insider trading off of classified or whatever info they get from their senate/congress job - not illegal (though imo it should be illegal). (Edit: as mandevil points out, strictly speaking illegal, but largely uneforceable/unenforced)

Insider trading off of info they got from their buddy at XYZ place who knew about something ahead of time, unrelated to their senate/congress job - still illegal, same as for other people.

replies(1): >>37601179 #
bee_rider ◴[] No.37601179[source]
Why don’t people track the investments of senators and congresspeople and race to follow them? It seems like an easy way to get nearly insider trading.
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1. dmoy ◴[] No.37601255[source]
In 2013 the electronic disclosure part of the 2012 STOCK act was removed, so they can just disclose in some way you can't follow.