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I'm curious if the majority of the trades were executed by humans reading it or essentially algorithms that scrape the web for articles. Also, if you intention

I'm curious if the majority of the trades were executed by humans reading it or essentially algorithms that scrape the web for articles. Also, if you intentionally released a bogus story and benefited from the rise, you bet it's illegal....and they (SEC) will almost certainly find you...

mariusz79 11y ago
Unless you're outside of their jurisdiction.
- jedberg 11y ago
  You can't make money from this and be outside their jurisdiction. To move money through the US stock market you have to have a brokerage account that follows the rules (and fines) of the SEC.
  - Cshelton 11y ago
    Exactly. Does not matter what country you live in. If you happen to live in a country with no extradition treaty, you will never be able to enter the U.S. again without being arrested and it's highly likely you will be arrested in most countries you step into. The days of hiding in the Caymans or in Switzerland are over.
  - slg 11y ago
    That isn't necessarily true. It isn't uncommon for stocks to exist that are traded on local exchanges that equal a set number of shares on a foreign exchanges. They vary by market, but they are called ADRs in the US. It is doubtful that any of these exist for a stock like Twitter, but it would be an easy way to benefit from American stocks without having an American brokerage account.
this_user 11y ago
At least the very short-term trades are executed by algorithms and they are susceptible to making mistakes. What the article fails to mention is that the rise was quickly reversed once enough people actually read and analysed the news and started shorting the stocks. Right now it is essentially trading where it was before the news hit.
- celticninja 11y ago
  The article says it is trading 3% higher overall. That's not an insignificant gain off the back of fake news.
  - Cshelton 11y ago
    It was trading around that level before the fraudulent article.
    - this_user 11y ago
      The stock opened virtually unchanged but started trading higher right after the open and had already gained around $1.1 by the time the news hit. When that happened, it spiked a good two additional Dollar, but lost around $1.9 of that over the course of the next minutes. Interestingly, someone bought 1700 calls 3 minutes before the event.
      - celticninja 11y ago
        Can you ELI5 'bought 1700 calls'?
        Cshelton 11y ago
        Calls are a type of option. Basically you buy the "option" to purchase a stock at a certain price. Say a stock is at $10. You buy an option, which is a contract, that allows you to purchase that stock for $15 anytime within the next 3 months(which is when the option contract expires). Now one month later the stock is at $20 per share. Your option you bought that allows you to purchase the stock for $15 (which is called the strike price) is still good of course. You may now go purchase 100 shares (a standard size for 1 option contract) at $15 a share and immediately sell all of those shares for $20 a share. Instantly making $500 net. In practice, most option contracts hit their expiration and are worthless. They are "out of the money" options. Basically if that stock went down to $8 per share, you would not "exercise" your option to buy it at $15, because that would be more expensive than market price...and you would let it just expire. There are a ton of strategies with options, from highly leverage speculative investing to using them as tools to hedge positions. So if somebody bought 1700 call options right before, at which time they were "out of the money", and then sold them at the peak twitter high price of today...they would have made around $255,000 if they choose to exercise the options. But that's assuming they bought at a strike price that was the same as the market price at the given time...around $37/share. All that money for a relatively low upfront investment risk. The 1700 calls could be related, or could have been stupid luck. Call options are fairly common and that person did it at the right time. The real question is, did they exercise the options or sell off the option contracts (which is what is done most of the time) and actually make all that money. If so, there might have been a little more going on than dumb luck (fraud).
nodesocket 11y ago
Hate to burst your bubble, but the SEC is probably one of the most under funded government organizations there is. They are going against billion dollar companies and individuals, and honestly are sort of a joke.
- celticninja 11y ago
  They probably disproportionately go after individuals, it is much easier to force an individual into a plea bargain situation where they get a positive result, than it is to go against a multi billion dollar corporation who can continue making money while defending a legal case.
- Cshelton 11y ago
  Actually, the SEC has many sophisticated tools. and on events like this, greater attention is received. I utmost assure you from personal knowledge, they will find you and they are most certainly not a joke. Billion dollar companies and individuals have nothing to do with it, they have no immunity or some secret hiding place. More often the bigger guys raise flags much quicker and are easier to investigate. (Usually larger amounts of money)

mariusz79 11y ago

Unless you're outside of their jurisdiction.

jedberg 11y ago
You can't make money from this and be outside their jurisdiction. To move money through the US stock market you have to have a brokerage account that follows the rules (and fines) of the SEC.
- Cshelton 11y ago
  Exactly. Does not matter what country you live in. If you happen to live in a country with no extradition treaty, you will never be able to enter the U.S. again without being arrested and it's highly likely you will be arrested in most countries you step into. The days of hiding in the Caymans or in Switzerland are over.
- slg 11y ago
  That isn't necessarily true. It isn't uncommon for stocks to exist that are traded on local exchanges that equal a set number of shares on a foreign exchanges. They vary by market, but they are called ADRs in the US. It is doubtful that any of these exist for a stock like Twitter, but it would be an easy way to benefit from American stocks without having an American brokerage account.

this_user 11y ago

At least the very short-term trades are executed by algorithms and they are susceptible to making mistakes. What the article fails to mention is that the rise was quickly reversed once enough people actually read and analysed the news and started shorting the stocks. Right now it is essentially trading where it was before the news hit.

celticninja 11y ago
The article says it is trading 3% higher overall. That's not an insignificant gain off the back of fake news.
- Cshelton 11y ago
  It was trading around that level before the fraudulent article.
  - this_user 11y ago
    The stock opened virtually unchanged but started trading higher right after the open and had already gained around $1.1 by the time the news hit. When that happened, it spiked a good two additional Dollar, but lost around $1.9 of that over the course of the next minutes. Interestingly, someone bought 1700 calls 3 minutes before the event.
    - celticninja 11y ago
      Can you ELI5 'bought 1700 calls'?
      - Cshelton 11y ago
        Calls are a type of option. Basically you buy the "option" to purchase a stock at a certain price. Say a stock is at $10. You buy an option, which is a contract, that allows you to purchase that stock for $15 anytime within the next 3 months(which is when the option contract expires). Now one month later the stock is at $20 per share. Your option you bought that allows you to purchase the stock for $15 (which is called the strike price) is still good of course. You may now go purchase 100 shares (a standard size for 1 option contract) at $15 a share and immediately sell all of those shares for $20 a share. Instantly making $500 net. In practice, most option contracts hit their expiration and are worthless. They are "out of the money" options. Basically if that stock went down to $8 per share, you would not "exercise" your option to buy it at $15, because that would be more expensive than market price...and you would let it just expire. There are a ton of strategies with options, from highly leverage speculative investing to using them as tools to hedge positions. So if somebody bought 1700 call options right before, at which time they were "out of the money", and then sold them at the peak twitter high price of today...they would have made around $255,000 if they choose to exercise the options. But that's assuming they bought at a strike price that was the same as the market price at the given time...around $37/share. All that money for a relatively low upfront investment risk. The 1700 calls could be related, or could have been stupid luck. Call options are fairly common and that person did it at the right time. The real question is, did they exercise the options or sell off the option contracts (which is what is done most of the time) and actually make all that money. If so, there might have been a little more going on than dumb luck (fraud).

nodesocket 11y ago

Hate to burst your bubble, but the SEC is probably one of the most under funded government organizations there is. They are going against billion dollar companies and individuals, and honestly are sort of a joke.

celticninja 11y ago
They probably disproportionately go after individuals, it is much easier to force an individual into a plea bargain situation where they get a positive result, than it is to go against a multi billion dollar corporation who can continue making money while defending a legal case.
Cshelton 11y ago
Actually, the SEC has many sophisticated tools. and on events like this, greater attention is received. I utmost assure you from personal knowledge, they will find you and they are most certainly not a joke. Billion dollar companies and individuals have nothing to do with it, they have no immunity or some secret hiding place. More often the bigger guys raise flags much quicker and are easier to investigate. (Usually larger amounts of money)