4 ms·

Well in the movie the said that they can reverse transactions, but it will take time to prove

by dmishe 14y ago

elemeno 14y ago
They can be reversed in real life as well - it happens on occasion. In the case of the film, it would be exceptionally unlikely that the trades would be honoured anyway.
- ams6110 14y ago
  It's been a long time since I worked in anything close to the financial industry, but when I did, trades could be reversed any time up until settlement date which IIRC was seven days after trade date. I think under some circumstances they could even be reversed after settlement. Edit: I was wrong, settlement used to be five days, it's now three days (T+3) and has been for some time.
  - elemeno 14y ago
    It varies between products as to what the default settlement period is. However, from my experience (which was in exchange traded options), companies would only have until the close of business to reverse (or bust) bad trades made on the exchange - any they'd have to meet certain criteria to do so, the bulk of which was, I think, that the trade had to have executed at a price which was more than a certain percent away from the current market price.
- talmand 14y ago
  Spoilers: In the context of the plot that would be fine. It only had to be an issue for Bruce for a day or two for them to move forward with their plan. Which was to show his incredibly bad decision making and to make him powerless to stop them from taking over his company. To reverse the outcome of all that would have been a far more difficult thing to accomplish than to reverse fraudulent stock trades. I always felt he had his money back by the end of the movie.
  - ulyssesgrant 14y ago
    but why would anyone believe bruce made those trades to begin with? It was made extremely obvious (by the armed break-in and subsequent car chase) that the trades were fraudulent.
    - talmand 14y ago
      That's all true, I would think that the heavily armed event would immediately disqualify all trades during that time. That is, if people understood that they were conducting the trades in the first place. That is the weak point of the plot but like I said, it only had to work long enough for the takeover to happen. It wasn't like the plan was to takeover the company for years to come, just a few days to move forward with the plan to get access to the reactor. I think it's unlikely but plausible. But hey, it's a movie. But for the Bruce part, that's easy because part of the Bruce persona is basically a dumb playboy that's rich despite himself. He has people who take care of him and if he does something on his own then it often results in something bad. Remember that he supposedly burned down his own house during a drunken rage at his birthday party after kicking everybody out.
  - elemeno 14y ago
    They were all done while there was a bunch of armed men in control of the exchange, I don't think there would be any doubt at all that any trades made within that time frame would be considered suspicious and not honoured. It would be unlikely he'd be out any money anyway since the clearing firms would probably refuse to clear the trades. (If you're not familiar with what a clearing firm does - they're essentially a middleman who ensures that a trade actually gets completed (settled) and at the same time reduces your operational risk by protecting you against the risk of a counterparty either not-honoring a trade, or going bankrupt before the trade is completed.)

Well in the movie the said that they can reverse transactions, but it will take time to prove

by dmishe 14y ago

Well in the movie the said that they can reverse transactions, but it will take time to prove

They can be reversed in real life as well - it happens on occasion. In the case of the film, it would be exceptionally unlikely that the trades would be honoured anyway.

ams6110 14y ago
It's been a long time since I worked in anything close to the financial industry, but when I did, trades could be reversed any time up until settlement date which IIRC was seven days after trade date. I think under some circumstances they could even be reversed after settlement. Edit: I was wrong, settlement used to be five days, it's now three days (T+3) and has been for some time.
- elemeno 14y ago
  It varies between products as to what the default settlement period is. However, from my experience (which was in exchange traded options), companies would only have until the close of business to reverse (or bust) bad trades made on the exchange - any they'd have to meet certain criteria to do so, the bulk of which was, I think, that the trade had to have executed at a price which was more than a certain percent away from the current market price.
talmand 14y ago
Spoilers: In the context of the plot that would be fine. It only had to be an issue for Bruce for a day or two for them to move forward with their plan. Which was to show his incredibly bad decision making and to make him powerless to stop them from taking over his company. To reverse the outcome of all that would have been a far more difficult thing to accomplish than to reverse fraudulent stock trades. I always felt he had his money back by the end of the movie.
- ulyssesgrant 14y ago
  but why would anyone believe bruce made those trades to begin with? It was made extremely obvious (by the armed break-in and subsequent car chase) that the trades were fraudulent.
  - talmand 14y ago
    That's all true, I would think that the heavily armed event would immediately disqualify all trades during that time. That is, if people understood that they were conducting the trades in the first place. That is the weak point of the plot but like I said, it only had to work long enough for the takeover to happen. It wasn't like the plan was to takeover the company for years to come, just a few days to move forward with the plan to get access to the reactor. I think it's unlikely but plausible. But hey, it's a movie. But for the Bruce part, that's easy because part of the Bruce persona is basically a dumb playboy that's rich despite himself. He has people who take care of him and if he does something on his own then it often results in something bad. Remember that he supposedly burned down his own house during a drunken rage at his birthday party after kicking everybody out.
- elemeno 14y ago
  They were all done while there was a bunch of armed men in control of the exchange, I don't think there would be any doubt at all that any trades made within that time frame would be considered suspicious and not honoured. It would be unlikely he'd be out any money anyway since the clearing firms would probably refuse to clear the trades. (If you're not familiar with what a clearing firm does - they're essentially a middleman who ensures that a trade actually gets completed (settled) and at the same time reduces your operational risk by protecting you against the risk of a counterparty either not-honoring a trade, or going bankrupt before the trade is completed.)