TO ALL RE: "united" legalities, SEC and SI. It is my understanding that where trouble may occur is on concerted efforts to squeeze a particular Market Maker, IE ALEX on TEXN. Concerted squeezes are unlawful. Also, buy recommendations by "ANYONE" other than a licensed securities broker is unlawful, as is giving direct advice on what or when to buy or sell. Seems it is done here on SI about once per minute.
Pumping up a stock for the purpose of selling into the buying that your pumping has generated is likewise unlawful.
Now communicating the ticker of what one is buying or selling, whether as an individual or as a group leader is "to my knowledge" not unlawful. Otherwise, DAYTRADERS irc would have been shut down long ago, as would trading houses.
My guess is that by the end of summer, some names will be mysteriously missing from SI. The SEC will move as always...swiftly and quietly. I suggest we all double check the words we use when we post. NEVER say "Buy XXXX," or "I think you[we] should buy XXXX," or "you should sell your XXXX and buy ZZZZ."
Likewise I suggest that we stay FAR away from any post that has the appearance of passing along inside information. If you pass it to a friend and the friend buys it, you are just as guilty [as I understand the law].
The SEC has a new "Internet Fraud Enforcement Task Force." Now with Silicon Investor accounting for 2/3 of all internet investor posting, where do you think this task force is focusing it's investigation?
I think the words we choose on SI are the critical element in whether we are or are not breaking the law. Those who say, "News about merger with Fortune 500 company coming out within 20 minutes," are crossing the line with regard to passing along inside information for the purpose of personal gain [your SI friend's].
I received some inside info on a stock this week that turned out to be 100 pct accurate. I did not post it. That would be "leaking" of inside information for the purpose of personal gain. And more importantly, I did not BUY that stock all week. Had I kept my mouth shut, but bought for myself, I STILL would be breaking the law [though it would be harder for the SEC to prove].
Everyone has seen my disclaimers after long DD. I do that partly as a courtesy, but mostly to save my own butt from someone taking a quote out of context and holding it against me. This stuff is for real. Your words are stored forever. The SI archives are open to everyone.
We should all pause from the excitement to be sure that nobody, including ourselves, can be hurt by the posts we make and that we are not violating Securities law. If you don't know much about the SEC, they have a website that explains most everything.
I believe the link is:
ustreas.sec.gov
Rande Is |
