Fiddlin’ Share Prices

There is crime, and there is white-collar crime where, they say, there are no victims. Not true; there are victims. Share prices move up and down all the time according to the market’s view of the stock. If you watch the trends carefully, you might jump in and place a bet. You might make money; you might lose money; just depends if you got lucky and spotted the trend.

The market rules are all about fairness and openness, where all information is known to all at the same time. But this is not always the case. Some know more than others. Some know when important information about a stock’s value is going to be publicly available. Some know when to buy or sell.

Illustration by Bill Morris

This is “insider trading” – access to privileged “what” and “when” information. It gets more devious when a real smart person knows how to move the market, manipulate the share price. Privileged information, good or bad, can be leaked onto a trading floor by a casual comment, a tip, picked up maybe over coffee, in the wine bar, over a beer. In the febrile atmosphere of trading, rumours are picked up and acted on quickly to buy or sell. If you are “in” or “out” first, you make money. Continue reading →