Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Anthony @ Equity Investigations, Dear Anthony, -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: oldirtybastard who wrote (68052)	3/8/2001 10:15:10 PM
From: mst2000	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 122087

Not sure what you are trying to say -- can you be just a little clearer as to your meaning when you say "ASTN's fate is sealed"?? Oddly enough, when the First United indictments were reported today at 2:40 (couldn't have happened to a more deserving bunch, BTW), ASTN was trading at 1 5/8. 1:20 later, it closed at 1 21/32. Up 1/32 from the story. Not exactly what I call "creamed". Actually, 1 21/32 represents an almost 80% increase in price since the 1st of the year. The NASDAQ composite index should be so lucky. The drop earlier in the day had nothing to do with this story -- it was anticipated profit taking after a 75% rise from the low 1's last week to 2 3/32 yesterday (a rise built on the first signs of ramp-up -- the first 7 figure volume day eVWAP has ever had after 1 1/2 years of a pre-operational "testing" phase -- while building so-called "critical mass" amongst its institutional customer base). The FUE story is almost 4 years old -- the demise of FUE was apparently reported on CNBC in 1997, with a picture of ASTN's prospectus used as a graphic. In the 4 years since, ASTN has obtained SEC approval for its system as a facility of a national (albeit smaller) stock exchange (PHLX), and has formed strategic partnerships with (or signed up as users) Merrill, Belzberg, Sungard, McGregor, Autex (i.e., Thomson Financial), and most recently Reuters. Its customers (who are first being invited to trade actively on the system in the past week or so) include 3 of the largest money management companies in the world. The system was approved by the Toronto Stock Exchange just yesterday. Their general counsel if formerly an assistant GC for the SEC and then general counsel for the PHLX; their top sales guy was the top sales guy at Instinet for years; their Far Eastern tech guy was a managing director at Schwab; thier CTO was head of Booz Allen's tech group in Columbia, Md. in charge of the DoD/NSA related contracts; and their CEO was chief operating officer of Instinet from being a nothing system through its sale to Reuters. Their trading system is first being ramped up in the last 2 weeks after 4 years of waiting, and there is every reason to believe it will be huge. The company has just under $10 Million in cash, and another $25 million available in a recently placed equity line of credit. So I am not at all sure what you mean by the ominous refrain: "its fate is sealed" Anyway, along comes a story about indictments of 20 boiler room brokers at the end of a 6 month grand jury investigation in relation to stock manipulation affecting 5 different companies which occurred between 1995 and 1997 (the price movement relating to ASTN occurred in May and June 1996, almost 5 years ago). The FUE brokers were, by any definition, as sleazy as they come. Of the 5 companies mentioned, the only one that was legitimate (and I'm pretty sure the only one that is still in existence) is ASTN. So out of the woodworks come at least one or two regulars on this Board, posting this story on every ASTN board in creation, as if to suggest that some ASTN insiders were indicted (but no, after 6 months of investigation, not one ASTN insider is even mentioned in any of the stories). And so, in following this story from the ASTN SI thread back to this A@P thread, where shorting so-called "fraudulent stocks" is the "raison d'etre", and then seeing some odd communications between the pack leader and the guy doing all the posting elsewhere, I asked what I think is a fair question about a cryptic remark, and you call me "paranoid" and follow with a few cryptic remarks of your own. Can't you folks speak english?? Do I really need to buy Anthony's code book to understand what you are really trying to say?? Is it too much to ask that somebody try looking at the real FACTS about ASTN before you guys start trashing it in ways that reflect nothing less than complete ignorance about both it and the people who run it? I've spent 4 years getting to know these people -- if the implication is that they have mob ties and either condoned or encouraged stock manipulation, then the implication is dead wrong and borderline defamatory (or not so borderline). This is an utterly legitimate company that is very likely going to make a successful full frontal assault on the way the current status quo in the securities industry hose down institutional large block traders. You guys should really try to understand it better before you defame is and trash it. Just a thought. Not paranoia -- fairness. MST