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One thing I've always wondered: Does the stock market basically consist of insider traders making a profit off of people without that knowledge? I feel like eve

One thing I've always wondered: Does the stock market basically consist of insider traders making a profit off of people without that knowledge? I feel like even with immense restrictions on insiders in place, information is so easy to pass on to sb. else, that it should be impossible to prevent this. Heck, I could cough once for buy, twice for sell. Who's going to surveil me and notice that?

Fat_Thor 5y ago
You legalize insider trading for everyone.
op00to 5y ago
Yes, literally.
RhodoGSA 5y ago
for that matter, day trading and technical analysis is literally just insider trading. This chart, based on some analysis of the way it's moved, with no interest in the metrics of the company itself, dictates buy or sell. Every 'Technical Trader' learns these 'indicators' and trades on them. It's just shadow insider trading under the guise of providing 'liquidity' but in reality just contributes to more volatility. Back when the stock market was founded, it was meant as a means of providing a signal of support for a company. It allowed the company to raise debt or financing based on it's stock price or signal of support. You bought company stock because you believed in the fundamentals of the business and you wanted to support it. Now it's just about how i can sell this stock to the bigger sucker, for more money than i bought it for.
- thatguy987 5y ago
  That's not what insider trading is. Insider trading is specifically using non-public information about a company to make investment decisions. Technical analysis generally uses only publicly available information; it's finding patterns in those publicly available data that can help you make investment decisions. I'm not saying it's socially useful; just that it is distinct from insider trading.
  - RhodoGSA 5y ago
    well... Kinda. Proprietary data feeds that you have to pay big money for is totally a thing. I wouldn't call that public information. Additionally, with hft data speeds matter and exchanges only allow co-location of servers to 'premier firms'.
MarkLowenstein 5y ago
Somewhat, but even the non-insiders still do pretty well. My returns over the last few years are much more than I deserve, and I just have 401k/mutual funds. Maybe they would have been higher without these insiders, but probably not immensely.

Fat_Thor 5y ago

You legalize insider trading for everyone.

op00to 5y ago

Yes, literally.

RhodoGSA 5y ago

for that matter, day trading and technical analysis is literally just insider trading. This chart, based on some analysis of the way it's moved, with no interest in the metrics of the company itself, dictates buy or sell. Every 'Technical Trader' learns these 'indicators' and trades on them. It's just shadow insider trading under the guise of providing 'liquidity' but in reality just contributes to more volatility. Back when the stock market was founded, it was meant as a means of providing a signal of support for a company. It allowed the company to raise debt or financing based on it's stock price or signal of support. You bought company stock because you believed in the fundamentals of the business and you wanted to support it. Now it's just about how i can sell this stock to the bigger sucker, for more money than i bought it for.

thatguy987 5y ago
That's not what insider trading is. Insider trading is specifically using non-public information about a company to make investment decisions. Technical analysis generally uses only publicly available information; it's finding patterns in those publicly available data that can help you make investment decisions. I'm not saying it's socially useful; just that it is distinct from insider trading.
- RhodoGSA 5y ago
  well... Kinda. Proprietary data feeds that you have to pay big money for is totally a thing. I wouldn't call that public information. Additionally, with hft data speeds matter and exchanges only allow co-location of servers to 'premier firms'.

MarkLowenstein 5y ago

Somewhat, but even the non-insiders still do pretty well. My returns over the last few years are much more than I deserve, and I just have 401k/mutual funds. Maybe they would have been higher without these insiders, but probably not immensely.