The moral of the story is that the elephant police only notice the 800-lb elephant in the room if it happens to drop a turd in their comfy little gold lined alcove. You're preaching to the choir, flytiger. Once the elephant learns not to enter said cherished ground, the EP go back to smoking havanas and playing cards.
What I find so interesting is guys like Pitt and Campos let this shit happen. Then, they get out and find Jesus. See what Campos is doing now? How'd that happen. You think these high powered firms dont' know about Harvard or Yale Law School. Naw, they'd rather go pay half a mill to a civil servant who went to a State School. That's what is so infuriating. They know the public at large is stupid, and they treat it as such, but they get away with it - for now. We'll see what the new IG does. He's civil, but he can turn his case over to the Feds. That's the way it usually goes down. I noticed in Bond Buyer they tagged some big boys for GIC fraud, some dating back to 1998. I thought Statutes came in somewhere, but it's dated from when you find out about the crime - I think. Anybody know? We've got a lot of stuff on Elgindy from 98 on. I'm just curious. I know we can get disgorgement, but I'd love to see some prison time. Anyone seen Herb Greenberg, btw? LOL What a tell.
I've signed the following petition: "The Security Traders Association, of which I am a member, enjoys a practitioner's viewpoint with broad grassroots support in the U.S. equity markets. As market professionals with a keen awareness of market structure, we are concerned with any unintended consequences of the SEC's emergency short sale rule as well as any further regulation or legislation that might follow. The U.S. enjoys the most transparent and liquid markets in the world. Any short-term "fix" to a perceived market failure made through hurried regulation will certainly be transitory and unsustainable and may cause unintended problems not limited to a loss of liquidity, a loss of competitiveness, and a loss of confidence in our markets. Our markets have evolved over a long period of time and we advise prudence and thorough research before making further regulatory or legislative market structure change".
Sincere congrats on your considerable recent triumphs, Mr. O'Brien. These new restrictions <i>do</i> make my job a bit harder for the moment, but automated borrowing software like LocateStock.com should eventually solve this issue for us legit short-sellers. I'm not saying that I believe every word Mark Mitchell writes, but I've had a strong gut feeling all along that you are right and the mainstream media is wrong.
Coming from you , Reardon, that means something. Thank you. You will benefit in a transparent market. I know I will. And I'm not the Bunny. I'm just someone who doesn't play the fool very well. OBrien is so secretive, and with reason, that when he calls me , he uses a prepaid card so even I can't call him back. This comes from Saturday morning death threat calls at the house. And BTW, you can believe Mitchell. We work very hard on our facts. .
Now you are where we were. No one cares. The mood in Washington is you guys will take down the banks to make a buck. The consensus is, they took your lobby money, and you left them holding the bag. Now, it swings hard the other way, which is a detriment to all of us. But if you've got gangrene, you lose the leg if you want to survive. No one in the Securities Industry was willing to stand up against wrong. the money was too good. There were a few that left the industry and work from outside it, but get ready for outside regulation, scrutiny, and public scorn. Just the way it is. Look around your office at the faces. They know.
locatestock.com is charging outrageous fees for simple borrows such as bac and jpm. for a heavy trader of lets say 8 of the 19 stocks on the banned list it could cost one $600-$800 a day in fee's. and thats just for daytrading as holding overnights on these costs 3x the fees each night one holds. it could destroy the short selling game for many.
didn't say it was going to be pretty. There is a finite number of shares to borrow. Nobody was paying before. That's what the fake locates were about; the brokers pocketed the money. Now, if you stick to what is legally available, this is what you get. What did Muriel say? "Piggies". Now, we all pay. There is no imbedded right to do this for a living. You have to earn it. This is what happens to a business man whose raw material costs skyrocket. Traders shrug. He starves. Welcome to the real world. And btw. What about all the companies crushed, and jobs? Payback is a bitch. But we all get it.
it could destroy the short selling game for many. ----------------------- If a long can't make any money why should a short? If ostk can't make any money why should someone make money selling ostk short? Someone is going to make money to the detriment of someone else or at least it'll be viewed that way. The emergency order is the disabilities act of the financial market. The gov't is accommodating the handicapped.
FWIW I've shorted a lot of stocks the last few weeks. I haven't noticed much difference (using IB). I only short from 100 to 500 shares though. I'm too chickenshit to hold shorts for more than a couple days...