Well he's definitely a patsy. They just want to go after the small guy who doesn't have the resources to hire a bunch of lawyers like the banks and hedge funds. Question is this: If they say he is "spoofing", meaning submitting fake orders, how is that possible when the broker would require margin to be posted for each order before submitting to cme? Once cme gets the order there is always a chance, no matter how remote, the order could get filled. Since this guy wasn't using top of the wave tech, his latency to remove his orders must not have been as good as the Hft guys and orders could get filled.
Patsy : law enforcement needs little fish to try on, so as to gain confidence to take on the big one.
Eric holder has said on record he's not going after any big fish because of the "risk" to the economy. Why do you think no one has been prosecuted for the financial crisis? At least Bush went after Ken Lay, Bernie ebbers and the rest of the crooks Enron etc
I have a very quite life now, as I am a trendfollower. I always have control over my position and have only very few (and only for a short time) open losses when trading, so not much stress. Only few, small effective losses and good ratio between profits and losses. Average around 2 trades a day, so not much action needed. Most of the time just waiting and watching. Because I have only a few losses, almost each trade confirms over and over again that I should not worry about my trading. But to find an edge was not easy, so at the start lots of stress and lots of misery.
In the past there was a guy on ET, MBAgearhead or something, who posted big up days like +50k in the ES. I tried to figure out what he was doing, so I started trading off the orderbook. That turned to be an extreme rollercoaster, one day I made huge gains, to give it back the next day. I never looked at the order book after that.
CME Statement Says Flash Crash Not Caused by Futures Traders Magazine Online News, April 23, 2015 John D'Antona Jr. It wasn't our fault. That's the official word from the CME Group, parent operator of the exchange where Navinder Singh Sarao, the high-frequency trader who stands accused of causing all or part of the May 2010 flash crash, executed his trades. The company made the following statement as there is growing sentiment among market participants that the exchange did little or nothing to bring legal or other action against Sarao immediately following the market event of May 2010. "Nothing is more important to CME Group than the integrity of our marketplace. Following the Flash Crash on May 6, 2010, together with other regulators, we did a thorough analysis of all activity in our markets during the Flash Crash, and concluded - along with regulators - that the Flash Crash was not caused by the futures market. If new information has come to light, we look forward to reviewing it with the Commission. We fully support the CFTC's actions to prosecute those who attempt to engage in fraud or manipulation." Also, an perhaps most importantly, the exchange operator concluded its remarks by saying it is prohibited by law from releasing information about any individual's trading behavior," such as Sarao's. "So we are unable to comment further at this time," the press statement ended. CME operates options and futures exchanges as well as derivatives exchanges in Chicago, and New York City, as well as online trading platforms.
April 24, 2015 11:56 am Flash crash trader at centre of web of offshore accounts Gina Chon in Washington and Philip Stafford in London http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/e6899c5e-ea00-11e4-ae1c-00144feab7de.html#axzz3YLGrMT7p
To people who are surprised that Sarao made millions but lived llike a bum, and that nobody knew about his wealth: Truly great traders are not motivated by money or a flash lifestyle. And like many who are truly great in their field, he is clearly a social oddball, probably awkward around people and someone who prefers to keep himself to himself. The market is this guy's life. He is a super trader. What do you expect? You will never see people like that having a few drinks at the local pub after work and chatting up girls. You won't see people like that taking the kids to birthday parties on Saturdays or cook dinner for the family. People like that are different. That's why you are not him, and he is not you. He may also have issues with his parents, possibly a lack of trust, which could have been again a driving force. Most truly great people are driven by a strong desire to numb their emotional pain. And like any highly independent people, it's natural that he'd want to minimise the amount of tax he pays to the government for it to wage foreign wars or just plain squander away. You won't understand that kind of mentality, so you might as well give up.
The most I can see this guy being responsible for is spoofing (he did have margin - these were not fake orders whatsoever) and at most should be fined accordingly. All of this criminal, arrest, extradition talk etc is ridiculous. This isn't Nick Leeson here and I see no reason this guy is responsible for forfeiting all of his aggregate trading returns or serving significant jail time. As far as I'm concerned the powers that be see a non-connected independent with a high amount of money earned through gaming the gamers and they want that money (back). Getting rid of spoofers is fine by me - but only if HFT groups are also significantly impacted at the same time. HFT uses rampant spoofing as part of its bread and butter. The only difference is that it does it at a smaller size but higher interval.
A very funny post from Trade2win.com, equally applicable to ET. http://www.trade2win.com/boards/gen...uk-trader-blamed-flash-crash.html#post2531102 Can you just imagine if this "retail trader" had been a member on this site in 2010 You can imagine the conversation - especially with T2W's own "hit squad" ie Hound of HOUNSLOW - I have had a good day today - over half a million pounds after that latest flash crash T2w member - LOL Another T2w member - ROFLMAO - get back to your demo account noob Hound of HOUNSLOW - No mate - its on a real account Loads of T2w disser members - Here we go again - Who do you think you are Davey Robinson lol - What a pratt - come off it you can't fool us - go back to your mum and dad and dream on sonny boy Pboiler Boy member - We have got you sussed - you can't fool us saying your the dog's bo88ocks - Hound of Hounslow - you are a joke - you have no cred here - you live in a 3 bed semi with your mum and dad - you can't fool us on T2W - we can smell BS 50 miles away. Hound of HOUNDSLOW - OKay guys - time for me to go dark - I admit its not quite like this everyday