Hard to believe they cant nail these clowns and apply 3X damages, take the house, and throw them and their rug rats out on the street. They can always get jobs cleaning the toilets at the firms they ripped off. SEC is blowing smoke. Send 20 or 30 of these clowns to prison after stripping them of all gains, and we'll see if the next one has the balls to trade with this info.
The SEC is in the pocket of the highest bidder at this point. Don't expect any enforcement against big political contributors.
That's the really interesting question. How unusual is "unusual option activity"? For every 5x surge in volume that is followed by a takeover annoucement, how many are followed by nothing at all? If a surge in option volume is really a good indicator of an impending takeover then do you really need expensive software to detect it? I would have thought the bog standard scanners you get with the likes of IB would be enough. But if it was that easy why don't the market makers detect this "unusual activity" and do something about it immediately instead of whining about it weeks after the event?
notouch gets a gold star for asking the right questions. It's not easy, and I'm sure plenty of volume surges come to nothing. However, it's not really possible for a market maker to fully cover themselves against insider traders. They simply pass along that 'adverse selection' risk to everyone in the form of higher spreads. Lately, it seems that the 'bad' guys are bolder, and have more ammunition than usual , thus the extra 'losses' that IB and others are seeing.
This is the same old song and dance that has been going on in the options market for years. I'm just glad that people are finally waking up to this. Options have long been the place where the "smart money" does its insider trading. After complaining about this for years, it finally seems that some of these guys might actually have to face the consequences of their actions. That's a good thing.
you guys remember how many options were bought pre 9/11 ... a (&%^ load of money was made off that terrorist attack. I'm pretty surprised the feds didnt try to come down on those whom had advanced knowledge of the attack.