Only in America: 'TIME-TRAVELER' BUSTED
Discussion
There is no way you could turn $800 into $350m in two weeks, even if you knew exactly how the market and stocks would move. The initial capital is far too small. Also, the types and volumes of transactions required, from a new account, would ring all sorts of alarm bells at the broker(s). Oh, and you need to provide ID documents, addresses etc. to open accounts and they tend to have limits on volumes, particularly retail accounts.
I would have said it's a spoof. Notice it's not been picked up by any mainstream press.
>> Edited by whoozit on Wednesday 2nd April 09:38
I would have said it's a spoof. Notice it's not been picked up by any mainstream press.
>> Edited by whoozit on Wednesday 2nd April 09:38
Why not offer him Guantanamo Bay instead 
dontlift said: "The only way he could pull it off is with illegal inside information. He's going to sit in a jail cell on Rikers Island until he agrees to give up his sources."
There is nothing like Innocent until proven Guilty is there
Good old yanks
whoozit said: There is no way you could turn $800 into $350m in two weeks, even if you knew exactly how the market and stocks would move. The initial capital is far too small.
Of course you could
with 126 "high-risk trades" each taking advantage of prior knowledge to exploit jumps in price due to mergers or product breakthroughs. You would only need each trade to make you around 10% which isn't unrealistic surely? Obviously it is bullsh*t though, but a good wind-up. I first heard this yesterday on April Fools day so was surprised when I heard the story had been around a while.
All I need now is the 126 bits of insider knowledge. Any offers?!
Chris_N said: You would only need each trade to make you around 10% which isn't unrealistic surely?
Okay, I'll bite. $800 x 1.1^126 = $131.3m. Hmmm, quite a jump but nowhere near $350m. For that you'd need an average return of 10.8% on every trade (aaah, the wonders of compound interest over very long periods). Okay, so that seems vaguely realistic.
However, you don't break into the $1m barrier until trade 70, so the amount you can put in each trade is pretty small for the first half of the strategy. You don't even get $100k until trade 47. But still do-able although this doesn't take into account commissions and costs. Let's say he's using one of the really cheap online brokers and is charged $20 per trade. In this case he's only managed to make $263m and needs to increase the return to 10.86% in order to reach $350m. This almost makes you want to stick money away in a bank account for your great-great-granchildren, doesn't it?
Now for the killer. Each trade you do will take minimum 4 days for the money to be invested, sold and receive the proceeds back. Even if you manage to convince your broker (retail, remember) that you can trade off the proceeds of the previous trade after trading but before it settles (difficult for a new client), you actually have a maximum 10 trading days (2 weeks, remember) to do this in. Therefore maximum 10 trades and minimum 3. Therefore this is a spoof QED.
>> Edited by whoozit on Wednesday 2nd April 10:31
whoozit said: ... Therefore this is a spoof QED.
OK, OK, let's not let reality get in the way of my plans.
I haven't really got time for this anyway, I've got to get back to my lab to carry on work on my time machine. It only needs to get me back a couple of years so I can invest my savings in a few choice telecoms stocks (only this time get out before the bubble bursts!) Anyone who wants me to put a bet on last year's Grand National for them while I'm there, just send me a cheque!
Chris
Anyone who wants me to put a bet on last year's Grand National for them while I'm there, just send me a cheque!
Chris
While you are there, I'll give you £5 - please give it back to me with the winning numbers for all the weeks on the lottery that no one won the jackpot!
Actually, just checked my bank account and it's reading 38.9 million. Cheers, I'll get you a beer.
???Not noticed this.... Have done many same day stock buy/sell deals on the Nasdaq, with just a normal account (etrade) & the money seems to appear a lot quicker than 4 days. (Not always the same day, but pretty quick)
whoozit said: Each trade you do will take minimum 4 days for the money to be invested, sold and receive the proceeds back.
whoozit said: Now for the killer. Each trade you do will take minimum 4 days for the money to be invested, sold and receive the proceeds back. Even if you manage to convince your broker (retail, remember) that you can trade off the proceeds of the previous trade after trading but before it settles (difficult for a new client), you actually have a maximum 10 trading days (2 weeks, remember) to do this in. Therefore maximum 10 trades and minimum 3. Therefore this is a spoof QED.
Actually if they were OTC trades (NASDAQ as suggested by Craig) he could benefit from the leverage gained pre-settlement (i.e. immediately after the transaction was confirmed) and quite easily perform the necessary number of trades in a day.
One would also expect that given his transactional volume, he would use a payment-for-orderflow type broker (like BrokerageAmerica) and actually get paid for his trading volume.
All that said, it is still complete bollox...
>> Edited by Paul on Wednesday 2nd April 15:07
Nice to know there are people who know more about settlement than me - I just advise on selling the stuff
Still, it takes T+3 to receive actual funds although brokerage accounts may give you a credit for sales executed.
Another point is that the day-trader theory assumes Mr Carlssin knows exactly what time of day the announcements came out. I find it difficult enough to find out what time XYZ plc announced its merger last year - let alone 250 years ago.
Still, it takes T+3 to receive actual funds although brokerage accounts may give you a credit for sales executed.
Another point is that the day-trader theory assumes Mr Carlssin knows exactly what time of day the announcements came out. I find it difficult enough to find out what time XYZ plc announced its merger last year - let alone 250 years ago.
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