WSJ article on Steve Cohen and SAC Capital Mgmt

Discussion in 'Wall St. News' started by OneHipCat, Sep 16, 2006.

  1. BCE

    BCE

    OneHipCat
    Thanks very much for sharing this article man. :) Cohen's someone most of us are very much interested in and a pretty private guy to say the least. There aren't that many recent publicly available photos of him either from what I understand.
    I had access to the WSJ website and paper for years as someone I knew had a subscription, plus I picked up the paper every morning from the ones the local delivery guy tossed. Free is good. :) Don't see it so much these days as I'm not interested enough to warrant paying the subscription fees. Plus don't have that much time to read it. We did subscribe to IBD too but I'm not as interested in that one as I was at one time either. Thanks again for sharing this article. :)
     
    #21     Sep 16, 2006
  2. syrre

    syrre

    hi old mate!

    u sure it wasnt supposed to be like this:

    that fee includes "legal" early-information

    ???
    :D
     
    #22     Sep 16, 2006
  3. What it says is, "Steve, better get some good press".

    Remember "60 Minutes"? There was one picture of Cohen available. He has a titanium protective dome for his house. Now he shows you his favorite lunch place. What's changed? Did he become "nice"?

    Facts. Biovail is suing him. I don't care if it's a lousy company, it's suing him. Second, he hired four law firms, the best, about four months ago. Third, There is a Federal (Criminal ) Investigation in Stock Lending. Fourth, the head of Bawag was arrested Thursday (Friday) in Europe. Bawag/Refco et. al, buried hundreds of companies, they didn't do it alone, and there is a Federal Investigation into that. Last Tuesday, the STate of Louisiana subpoenaed UBS for trading records in Sedona Corp. Arlen SPector has Senate Juciciary on this; that's DOJ When this stuff happens, the word gets out quickly, and everybody scrambles. The fact that Cohen allowed this article is him scrambling. The small fines are over. They are going to start doing to Wall St. what they willingly do to Corporate types - take their toys and lock them up.

    There are honest hedgies out there trying to make a living and it is very tough in this environment. THey've dummied up because it's such a small community, they'd be ostracised. But they'll start coming forward now. Do you really thing SAC is THAT much smarter than these other guys. There are companies doing road shows where the managers say, "we like your story, but hear SAC is short the stock. We can't get involved."

    Now you'll respond and beat the hell out me, but if you use your collective heads, you'll see that this article is a big sign of what I'm saying is coming.. And don't say that Government doesn't belong. The other day JPM was fined $400,000 for 52,000,000 shares of stock improperly marked when shorted and other violations. The SRO fined them a whopping .0077 a share. Of course there was no guilt admitted. Do you guys think if you could break the law. you could make a little more that .0077/share? Yeah. Me too. And if there was no punishment, would you do it again?

    Yep. They've invited the scrutny. Now they've got it.
     
    #23     Sep 16, 2006
  4. Thanks for the article...but many surprising statements made there indicating what I thought I knew, I did not or this is a smoke job and I am right...

    I still would like to have Mr C's red phone and get some flashing lights...or at least an extension phone "connected" up to it..:)

    When your in the "know" how can you lose?

    Michael B.

    P.S. Mr Cohen knows that when the public gets involved its too late...I am sure some of his traders know what I am talking about and I betcha out of all of them that have come and gone, one of them knows of ET. If i trade equities, I would work my way to the desk "next" to the center of the room :)
     
    #24     Sep 16, 2006
  5. toc

    toc

    'Do you really thing SAC is THAT much smarter than these other guys.'

    SAC's record is impressive and that too with 'big ship' assets in the play, returning 45%+ for whole 12 years is no joke. But I should accept that Feds do not after people unless they have some good sniff on the smoke and SAC must be upto something that went out of the norms.
     
    #25     Sep 16, 2006
  6. Surdo

    Surdo

    They are dangerous to cover!
    Often referred to as SAC of shit.
    They did a lot of business, but it cost you.
    Often a Million Dollar account to the top 5 brokers.

    One of his many tricks was to have the street hit a stock so he could buy it cheaper.

    The best was when they saw you out in Autex as a Seller and just wanted to Buy 10 off you on the offering, the next thing you knew the stock was up $2 Bucks. Nobody ever wanted to cover the SAC light.
     
    #26     Sep 16, 2006
  7. wow, the hate on here is unbelievable. that guy is a champion. end of story. someone to be respected by traders, not trashed by mediocre and losing traders. a few of these posts wreak of envy - such an ugly quality. i have no problems with that guy at all. "he only made money cuz he got calls" "he's burned out and washed out" "he's only gave the interview cuz he's getting sued."

    the way i read it was: his returns are lower since you can't day trade $10 billion. it's amazing that he was able to do it with $1 billion. i couldn't do that and you couldn't either. hell, 90% can't do it with 100k. computer algorithims are arbing much of the inefficiencies that used to exist and he recognizes it, so he's lengthened his timeframe. yes, they probably get calls. so what? they used to pay 5 cents a share, and still pay a ridiculous rate for the volume they do. if any of you want to trade billions of shares every year and pay that rate, you can get the best research and information too. if you think that's going to suddenly make you a billionaire on it's own, you're delusional. for every good call you get, there are 10 rumours spread by people trying to unload their position. yes, they short and buy through different brokers to get the best prices. at the same time, those same investment banks, sales traders, and brokers are leaking, piggybacking, and front running their orders, while spreading information about their activities and positions all over the street. the fact they are able to make money despite all that just shows how much better they are than the other sharks out there. people bashed him for years for being a recluse, then he feels a need to defend himself so gives an interview, and people bash him. damned if you do, damned if you don't.
     
    #27     Sep 16, 2006
  8. BCE

    BCE

    dafugginman,
    Very good post, although there may be some truth to the fact he's coming out now and making himself more publicly available because of all the scrutiny of hedge funds from the SEC and the law suits, etc. Also, many don't remember that even Warren Buffett used to be a much more "active" trader in the early days doing arbitrage, etc. Then becoming THE long term value guy, and now, to a large extent just buying companies outright. The scaling issues definitely do come into play.
     
    #28     Sep 16, 2006
  9. I suppose it is hate. But I know more about it than you do. Here's the latest. Whether he's involved or not is inconsequential.

    JOE hits Reg sho list for I think the fifth time the same morninig Greenberg starts assaulting it. That means, if you don't know, someone sold more than they got locates for . This morning, he's in the journal. Cramer is on TV yesterday bragging that he would buy puts and call a "bear reporter". Kinda like chewing gum in line. If you don't have enough for everybody, don't chew it. Can you call a "bear reporter". ???? Then the field isn't level. And beyond this business a lot of times, not always, but a lot of times, there are real companies employing real people behind the quotes.

    The only thing he's got going for him is that criminal cases take a long time, because the Feds work on a shoestring and it takes a long time to make a solid case. the Biovail case is easier, because of the affiants and the civil nature. From that sort of thing, you can make a Fed case. If you watched Spector and Judicial committee a few months ago, you know it's coming. One guy spent 300,000, I think it was Biolase, finding out who was manipulating his stock. Spector said "did you file" He said no. We're a small company already out 300. Spector says, file now, and get this committee a copy. Statue of Limitations is running out. And you wonder why Cohen is talking to the PRess for the first time.

    You are right. It's hate. Anybody else got an "I"ve been fucked" story, because there's more than one.
     
    #29     Sep 16, 2006
  10. BCE

    BCE

    These are your issues though right? http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=75449&highlight=sho
    I don't quite see it the same way.
     
    #30     Sep 16, 2006