Of course folks were tipped off to what was about to occur. Inside information is only illegal in the stock market. Commodities and currencies fortunes are built on inside information... legally.
MS, while I do agree that this inside information isn't FXCM specific, wouldn't you agree though that any individuals/organizations heavily shorting FXCM (which is an equity) prior to the SNB announcement would be acting on non-public information of a pretty significant sort (the decision of a CB) that nobody could have anticipated? If people were tipped off, I guess Citi and GS (who knows with those guys) weren't part of the club?
The markets, by their nature, are random. You can curve fit them and find this or that correlations. But in reality these events are just random occurrences. People should not let their imagination cloud their judgements. Citi and GS are upstanding banks who abide by the rules and don't go around doing this kind of things.
1/23 Buy out potential figure of $5.25 posted but no analyst mentioned. Probably a back of the napkin calculation for Luk to get their money back. I'm skeptical of the potential buyer, Charles Schwab. Not really a good match, but stranger things have happened. http://www.benzinga.com/analyst-rat...partner_feed&utm_content=analyst_ratings_page
Charles Schwab and FXCM as a match would be like Tim Tebow marrying Kim Kardashian, two complete opposites. If you are a competitor of FXCM you are hoping this is true. Schwab's legal (who really runs the firm) will make so many decisions adversely impacting FXCM's business it will go the way of the dodo bird.