Do You Think Trading is Gambling?

TY!

Basically the word business is a synonym of the word gamble.

 

in the end all one can do is try to put the odds in ones favor and roll with the punches.

 

UBS, Blackstone Advisers Fed Insider Ring, U.S. Says (Update2)
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By David Scheer and David Glovin

Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) -- UBS AG and Blackstone Group LP takeover advisers fed information to an insider-trading ring including a former Jefferies Group Inc. money manager in a scheme that yielded more than $8 million in illegal gains, federal authorities said.

Nicos Stephanou, associate director of mergers and acquisitions at UBS’s London office, passed information about bids for Albertson’s Inc., ElkCorp and National Health Investors Inc., U.S. prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission said today in criminal and civil complaints.

Ramesh Chakrapani, a managing director of Blackstone’s takeover advisory unit, leaked tips on two of the deals, the SEC said. The agency sued the pair and five others for involvement in the ring, while federal prosecutors in Manhattan announced criminal charges against Stephanou, ex-colleague Joseph Contorinis, a money manager for the Jefferies Paragon Fund, and a third man. Chakrapani, 33, was arrested last month.

“It is unconscionable when these highly paid individuals abuse their access to sensitive information and enrich themselves at the expense of others,” said Scott Friestad, an SEC attorney who supervised the case.

Albertson’s Bid

The alleged insider-trading network is the biggest uncovered by U.S. authorities since former UBS and Morgan Stanley employees were accused in 2007 of feeding tips on stock research and acquisitions to a ring of hedge funds. Allegations unveiled today expand on an insider-trading scheme alleged last month against Chakrapani relating to the 2006 bid for Albertson’s, the Boise, Idaho-based grocery store chain. The ring’s alleged gains include trading profits as well as losses avoided.

Stephanou, 34, a citizen of Cyprus who lives in London, was arrested at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey on Dec. 27 and remains in custody, prosecutors said. His lawyer, Christopher Morvillo, declined to comment.

Chakrapani’s lawyer Michael Sommer denied the accusations in an interview today.

Contorinis, 44, and Michael Koulouroudis, 58, who also allegedly received the tips, were arrested today. Contorinis’s lawyer, Benjamin Rosenberg, didn’t return a call. Koulouroudis’s lawyer, Michael Bachner, declined to comment. Koulouroudis was released on $900,000 bail, while Contorinis was ordered held on $7 million bail at a hearing today.

Authorities used a “novel” technique to detect the trading ring, said Daniel Hawke, head of the SEC’s Philadelphia office, which handled the inquiry. He declined to elaborate, noting that the investigation continues.

Banker Cooperation

Prosecutors won cooperation from a UBS investment banker who tipped the other defendants, Assistant U.S. Attorney Reed Brodsky said at a hearing today. Brodsky didn’t name the banker, who he said has been charged.

“The government has a very strong case,” Brodsky said in court.

Stephanou was among UBS advisers assigned to help Cerberus Capital Management LP prepare bids with a group of investors for Albertson’s in 2005 and 2006, the SEC said. He tipped at least three people to developments in the deal, including friend and ex-colleague Contorinis, the agency said. The pair had both worked as analysts at the New York office of Credit Suisse First Boston in 1998 and 1999, the agency said.

Contorinis, a resident of Fort Myers, Florida, bought $59 million in Albertson’s shares for the Jefferies hedge fund, the SEC said. Defendants in the case collectively gained or avoided losing $7.7 million on trades tied to the deal, it said.

Carlyle Group

Stephanou also leaked confidential information about the Carlyle Group’s plans in 2006 to buy ElkCorp, the Dallas-based maker of roofing and building products, according to the SEC’s complaint. Building Materials Corp. of America bought ElkCorp for about $1.1 billion in 2007.

Chakrapani, a London resident, was on a team of Blackstone advisers hired to help National Health Investors evaluate strategic options, including a buyout, in 2006, according to the SEC. He leaked information about a potential takeover to Stephanou, who passed it to at least one other person, prosecutors and the agency said.

Federal prosecutors last month charged Chakrapani with securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud for allegedly passing information to a friend about Albertson’s while working at New York-based Blackstone. The friend, together with family members, reaped $3.6 million, the SEC said in a related lawsuit seeking unspecified fines.

Tom Tarrant, a spokesman for Jefferies Group, a New York- based brokerage specializing in mid-sized companies, declined to comment. He said Contorinis left the company a year ago.

Blackstone spokesman Peter Rose said Jan. 14 the company was “shocked” by Chakrapani’s alleged breach of the firm’s policies and ethical standards after he was charged for trades tied to Albertson’s.

“UBS has assisted and will continue to assist the authorities in their investigation into the alleged actions of a single UBS employee,” company spokesman Doug Morris said.

To contact the reporter on this story: David Scheer in New York at dscheer@bloomberg.net; David Glovin in U.S. District Court in New York at 9245 or dglovin@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: February 5, 2009 17:30 EST

 

Just because an individual can't identify an edge does not mean that one doesn't exist. Conversely, just because an individual thinks he's accurately identified an edge does not validate the existence of one. An edge will exist or not exist independent of what an individual may or may not think. Any given trade will be a gamble or will not be a gamble independent of what the trader may or may not know.... just like Mount Rushmore will exist independent of whether or not an individual has ever heard of it.

So just because you take a trade thinking its not a gamble, doesn't mean that you're not gambling, and likewise, even if you take a trade with the intention of gambling doesn't mean that you are. The likelihood of any given trade going one direction of the other is independent of the information that a single individual has.

And I do not agree that each independent trade is a gamble -- at best the results are uncertain. I also understand that under your definition and connotation of the word, that anytime the results are uncertain then its a gamble... however I don't share the same definition or connotation of the word as you do. First of all, your definition would imply that there can never be any type of business transaction (including buying real estate) without it being considered gambling, which I personally believe is contrary to the opinions of the average person as well as our laws and public policy. You picked definition #5 from dictionary.com, and I looked at all of them sort of averaged them together (which can only be done when synonyms for the same word don't exist)... and the theme most common to several of the definitions listed, with the exception of a few that I think are there just because they're common connotations, was the notion of chance dictating the results. Subsequently, after taking ALL of the definitions listed into consideration, I happen to believe that in order for it to be a gambling the results of any given opportunity must be dictated by chance... but whether the market moves up or down is not dictated by chance... its dictated by supply and demand. And your assertion that you can't know whether or not there will be more supply than demand or less supply than demand IN ADVANCE does not change the fact that it will still governed by supply & demand and not by chance.

But you certainly have a right to your opinion, and if definition #5 is what you believe the word "gambling" means then that's your right and I can see why you think trading is gambling.

 

Gentlemen

All kind of activities in Universum related to game theory .

Strong scientfic .

Universum is infinitly .

Each process ,which have start and end is quasi occasional and can be multiple time duplicated in Universum ,as last(time, materija and space ) is infinitly
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Read Demokrit,Epikur, J.Bruno ,A.Poinncare,K.Ciolkowsky

 

Pretty much agree.

 

Screw that, I had enough, I'm going to watch some porn

 

Screw that, I had enough, I'm going to watch some porn
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46ENFzNC-Ok
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8KIjRlyXQM

 

Anyway, enough of all this talk of gambling, coin tossing, game theory, unkowns and the like.

Let me introduce you to OTPP (Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan), sponsored by the government of Ontario and the Ontario Teachers' Federation. Gamblers? Hahaha.





Dackster.

 

If trading is gambling, then gambling is trading?