So Tenet finally resigned.
He, or at least his immediate family who knew, should have bought a ton of futures on himself prior to resigning. Would have made some nice pocket change. I take it since there are no insider trading laws against political futures, it would have been legit. Oh well…
(tongue in cheek post folks, tongue in cheek. I do not condone or recommend insider trading in any form with regards to the real stock market.)
A friend of mine worked for Scientific Atlanta for a while. He dabbled in the stock market and also held S/A stock.
Using e-trade I think, he would watch the directors buying and selling tens of thoudands of shares of stock. He began to notice a pattern. When the directors would buy, Scientific Atlanta would make an announcement several weeks to months later of a new contract. The stocks would rise, the directors would sell and make a boatload of money.
He began to simply follow the directors in their buying and selling. Of course he was always late getting in and the stock price would be rising as he bought. The reverse was true on the way out. He was always trailing the curve. And of course, he was buying and selling tiny amounts by comparison.
I don’t know this for a fact, but my guess is that this goes on all the time. My guess is it’s standard practice.
I think if the announcement that moved the price is a few weeks/months after the buy/sell, then it’s legal because the SEC allows insiders a window to buy/sell. I wouldn’t doubt it though, there are plenty of gray areas that can be exploited.