"This is the worst case of insider trading ever."

Many times egregious cases of insider trading have precipitated sudden news. On 11/21/63 Ford Motor Co. saw 312x it's average put volume on the knowledge that Lincoln Continental convertible sales would hemorrhage the next day. The week before 12/7/41 inordinate put buying occurred in Dole Pineapple and Aloha Airlines as those stocks took a kamikaze. And of course all student's of history know that on Ash Wednesday of the year 0000, lumber futures were limit up on buying from the PilateFund, who had news that there would be not two but three crucifixions on the coming Friday.
 
Someone call AI on his cell right now because his computer is being used by someone else to post on ET. I just want to know that it's cool with him. Thanks.
 
Quote from marketsurfer:

the human mind LOVES conspiracy and intrigue. another myth bites the dust.......

best,

surfer
More...
I'm surprised that more of you hadn't heard about these allegations earlier, as I recall hearing about them quite soon after 911. I guess I didn't put too much stock in them because nothing apparently came of it; afterall, I assumed that if any investigations led anywhere, naturally it would be BIG news that we'd all hear about. Maybe I was a little off in my assumption, but it does seem very, very weird indeed to think that such a thing could have occurred with such widespread media disinterest. Lol, maybe some of those conspiracy sites -- FromTheWilderness comes to mind (ex-cop claiming he was setup by CIA) -- are onto something afterall?
 
Quote from C Robinson:



no....i don't want to believe...i am dissappointed that i haven't gotten any answers.....and you haven't done anything to prove your bias.
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i am not seeking to prove anything. deductive reasoning provides the ability to reach reasonable conclusions. the burden is on the people making the absurd statements to provide evidence of same. furthermore, the fact that option markets do not function in the manner claimed without significant repercussions, and there were NONE is proof enough.

best,

surfer:eek:
 
Quote from TM_Direct:

.....why not just ask them bluntly if they ran that article??? Surely, with all the web sites citing it, there must have been previous requests for it?????
More...

Funny you should mention it. I actually did ask them, using the link you provided here directly and the reference link with the article from your earlier post:

"TM_Direct
Elite Member

09-19-03 07:51 PM

http://www.themodernreligion.com/te...ualtrading.html

this quotes Bloomberg, but the bloomberg link doesn't;t work"


Their answer:
____________________________
TicketID: W00077785910370892347
Status: Resolved
Summary: old news article

LOG: 9/23/03 17:39:07 Your Initial Feedback
URL : http://quote.bloomberg.com/fgcgi.cgi?ptitle=Top Financial News&s1=blk& tp=ad_topright_topfin&refer=topfin&T=markets_bfgcgi_content99.ht&s2=blk&bt=ad_po sition1_topfin&middle=ad_frame2_topfin&s=AO6bRdhXdVS5TLiwg

I'm looking for the old bloomberg news article referenced in this site/page: http://www.themodernreligion.com/terror/wtc-unusualtrading.html

"U.S., Germany, Japan Investigate Unusual Trading Before Attack By Judy Mathewson and Michael Nol, Bloomberg Financial News, 18 September 2001 Washington, Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Trading skyrocketed in options that bet on a drop in UAL Corp. and AMR Corp. stock in the days before terrorists crashed hijacked United" dated Sept 18 (assume 2001)

But when I try the link I get this response from bloomberg: Sorry, the page you requested does not exist or cannot be served at this time. Please check your URL and try again or go to the Bloomberg.com homepage. Can you please verify the existence of that bloomberg news article and if yes, how can I get a copy of it? Thanks


LOG: 9/24/03 09:59:51 Bloomberg Feedback Team
Hello, and thank you for your inquiry. Unfortunately, our free website does "not" archive these articles. We are sorry we cannot assist you. Sincerely, Bloomberg Website Team.
_____________________________

So, no confirm or denial from them.

I also checked Stricknet.com for Options historical data, they only go back to 2002, even though they advertise on their site serving option traders since 1997.

OCC only goes back to Oct 2001, CBOE not making data CD's available after 1999-2000, OneChicagoOptions ( preferred by CBOE upon calling them) goes back only to 2002.

I would appear that 2001 data are hard to come by.


However; maybe Quoteboy has found out?
Quoteboy posted:
"QuoteBoy
Member
09-19-03 09:06 PM

I got a bloomberg but don't know how to find that volume data.
anyone know?"


Quoteboy, Do you also have full access to bloomberg.com?
If so, and have time, can you ask them or search for the above links/articles?

There are thousands of members here. It would be safe to assume that some have been trading since before 2001, and some have been trading options and possibly downloading daily data? Let's get some numbers on the symbols in question.

Same with Bloomberg subscribers, it's only a question to their feedback team.

It would go long way to throw some light on this issue.

Again, thanks all for any feedback and comments on this thread.
 
Quote from marketsurfer:

the human mind LOVES conspiracy and intrigue. another myth bites the dust.......

best,

surfer
More...

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/09/29/MN186128.DTL

"October series options for UAL Corp. were purchased in highly unusual volumes three trading days before the terrorist attacks for a total outlay of $2,070; investors bought the option contracts, each representing 100 shares, for 90 cents each. Those options are now selling at more than $12 each. There are still 2,313 so-called "put" options outstanding, according to the Options Clearinghouse Corp."

 
i would like to trace this one trade to the owner and just see if this is business as usual. oh wait...the fbi already said "nothing to see....move along." my bad!!!
 
Quote from trader556:

Has any trader with access to bloomberg, checked the specific options volume for the week(s) prior to 9-11?

I don't have access to it, but out of curiosity, called CBOE 1-800-678-4667.

I asked how can I get historical options volume data for the listed equities mentioned above for year 2001 and earlier.

Their answer was interesting to say the least. They "used" to provide CD-ROM's with all the trades quotes/prices etc for all their option products. The CD's were available for purchase by anyone asking.

But later in 2001 (he was vague exactly when and why) they decided to stop doing it. So the public was able to purchase complete data till maybe 1999-2000. Detailed data for 2001 are not available...

So I asked if any other service may have that data paid or free and he referred me to OneChicago Options. (OneChicago according to him has been using CBOE info for their services)

Well, checking with OneChicago on the web, it seems that they only go back to 2002!

It seems that 2001 detailed daily and specific volumes on equity options are "difficult" to come by at least from these two sources.


Another fact and maybe a curious coincidence in the following the money trails and possible beneficiaries:

"July 24, 2001: Larry Silverstein's $3.2 billion purchase of the WTC is finalized. It's the only time the WTC has ever been in private hands. Silverstein hopes to win $7 billion in insurance from the 9/11 destruction of the WTC towers. [NY Times, 02/16/03, ICSC, 4/27/01, Newsday, 09/25/02]"

Good opinions folks, good job for keeping the thread clean and on track.
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This post on the data angle has bothered me since I read it. Here's the summary:

I learned that the person in charge of this at CBOE is Elisha Goldberg in the Research Department and I had a nice chat with her last month about options data and 9/11. She's been at CBOE for 25 years and she would be the person that would get the request for this type of information.

Through 1998 they had full tick data on all options that was supplied by them to one of the schools at UCLA Berkeley. They then went to an abbreviated format of OI O H L C which is sold by index or all equities. I asked about data for all equities for, say, JUN JUL AUG SEP 01 and she said it was available.

She said I was the first person to make such a request which I found surprising.

Ms. Goldberg can be reached at 1 800 THE CBOE.

Geo.
 
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