What can I do about insider trading activity in stock options that cause financial harm?

[newwurldmn]

Actually, it is a lot. And it was the 30 put. More than 10% OTM with 1 day to expire on a stock trading in a small range all week. Buyer(s) never even attempted to post the minimum bid. That is not normal. Even a novice can see that these purchases were "highly likely" made with privileged information. We'll see what happens. If the organizations that now have the complaint are serious about maintaining the integrity and confidence in the markets, this will interest them.

Proving insider trading is very hard. Likely is that the buyers of those options will receive a letter and they will have to explain why they did what they did. From there it becomes difficult to prove they had inside information. Even if that is proven, it's unlikely you will get compensated as there is little way to verifiy who traded with whom.

It's also possible you traded against someone who are "following the crowd" on these and your specific executions were innocent even though someone with inside information might have triggered the subsequent purchases.

Given that only a few hundred traded, nothing will probably happen.

On a side note, why would a professional trader (whose been trading for 15 years) even bother selling 7 15 cent options? That's like $100 of potential pnl? And if you were doing that as part of your strategy (trading a diverse basket of names), wouldn't this situation come up realtively often - like once or twice a month?

 

[Martinghoul]

For some more fun reading on this subject:
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-06-17/there-might-be-a-lot-of-insider-trading
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/06/16/study-asserts-startling-numbers-of-insider-trading-rogues

 

[joezapp]

Proving insider trading is very hard. Likely is that the buyers of those options will receive a letter and they will have to explain why they did what they did. From there it becomes difficult to prove they had inside information. Even if that is proven, it's unlikely you will get compensated as there is little way to verifiy who traded with whom.

It's also possible you traded against someone who are "following the crowd" on these and your specific executions were innocent even though someone with inside information might have triggered the subsequent purchases.

Given that only a few hundred traded, nothing will probably happen.

On a side note, why would a professional trader (whose been trading for 15 years) even bother selling 7 15 cent options? That's like $100 of potential pnl? And if you were doing that as part of your strategy (trading a diverse basket of names), wouldn't this situation come up realtively often - like once or twice a month?

Thanks for the insights. Good points. Believe it or not, it doesn't come up often at all. And on the few occasions I've seen it, the buyer typically misses the strike by a dollar and a day. And I suppose it can't really happen, at least in the manner of this scenario, once or twice a month. If it did, there wouldn't be much of a market for options buyers as no seller in their right mind would feel safe to sell them.

 

[joezapp]

For some more fun reading on this subject:
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-06-17/there-might-be-a-lot-of-insider-trading
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/06/16/study-asserts-startling-numbers-of-insider-trading-rogues

Great articles! Thanks for posting them. I love the first few lines of the first article:

"As I may have mentioned over and over and over and over and over again, the first rule of insider trading is just don't insider trade, but the second rule is: If you have inside information about an upcoming merger, don't buy short-dated out-of-the-money call options on the target. The SEC will get you!"

If that also applies to next-day-dated OTM puts before the company surprises the market with a bad quarter pre-announcement, it improves my chances.

 

[RRY16]

Great articles! Thanks for posting them. I love the first few lines of the first article:

"As I may have mentioned over and over and over and over and over again, the first rule of insider trading is just don't insider trade, but the second rule is: If you have inside information about an upcoming merger, don't buy short-dated out-of-the-money call options on the target. The SEC will get you!"

If that also applies to next-day-dated OTM puts before the company surprises the market with a bad quarter pre-announcement, it improves my chances.

Thanks for the insights. Good points. Believe it or not, it doesn't come up often at all. And on the few occasions I've seen it, the buyer typically misses the strike by a dollar and a day. And I suppose it can't really happen, at least in the manner of this scenario, once or twice a month. If it did, there wouldn't be much of a market for options buyers as no seller in their right mind would feel safe to sell them.

Read Shel Natenberg's books on Options and Vol, it may help you with the last part of your statement.

 

[OptionGuru]

Insider Trading isn't as much of a problem as the media portrays it to be.

It's next to impossible to predict how a stock will react to news. For every successful "inside trader" there are many more "inside traders" holding the bag - ending up with worthless options.

 

[joezapp]

Insider Trading isn't as much of a problem as the media portrays it to be.

It's next to impossible to predict how a stock will react to news. For every successful "inside trader" there are many more "inside traders" holding the bag - ending up with worthless options.

"Next to impossible" is an exaggeration. But I have had occasions where I sold options to an inside trader and, fortunately, still had the options expire worthless. It's still concerning when it happens. It's not where a seller wants to be. You can usually sense it developing. That's why I left the SMCI bar after just a few drinks...

 

[ironchef]

For some more fun reading on this subject:
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-06-17/there-might-be-a-lot-of-insider-trading
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/06/16/study-asserts-startling-numbers-of-insider-trading-rogues

Thanks. I read the articles, basically little guys like me without any connections or inside info never stood a chance. A very depressing thought.

Anymore words of wisdom for us retail guys?

Thanks.

 

[RRY16]

Thanks. I read the articles, basically little guys like me without any connections or inside info never stood a chance. A very depressing thought.

Anymore words of wisdom for us retail guys?

Thanks.

Yes, Take responsibility for your trades and don't play the victim like Joezapped.

 

[ironchef]

Yes, Take responsibility for your trades and don't play the victim like Joezapped.

I get it and I know I should be smarter. But, in a negative sum game (with transaction costs), if the insiders made money, it has to come from somewhere and most likely me.

I know I should take responsibility, and am, but how do I avoid this? Do you have any suggestions?

I benefited greatly from some of the others' coaching and am willing to learn more from you.

Thanks.