4.11.25
Martha Stewart. Remember her? Although she was initially charged with insider trading, those charges were dropped during her trial. They got her on “conspiracy, obstruction, and making false statements.” She received a tip and sold stocks the day before the stocks fell. It does not matter what the name of the stock is. She went to prison for a few months and got probation afterwards. I mention her only for context.
Some forty years ago, I took a few continuing education classes at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta on stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and how to read the financial pages. After that, I was securities licensed for a short time. I know a bit, and I know some things that I don’t know, but am aware of. I know about investing in companies that are on their way up, and how delightful that is when they do that. I’m also aware there are ways to make money in a bear market (when the market is going down). Those include Short Selling, Put Options, EFTs designed to rise when the market falls, and others. I have never personally used these because I have never been confident in my ability to be sensitive to the market's ups and downs. However, if I had the money and could be sure of when the market would go up and when it would go down, I would likely give it a try.
Currently, we have a president of the United States who has realized that he is the most powerful person in the world. He can cause the stock market worldwide to swing in a volatile fashion by threatening tariffs, delaying them, then threatening tariffs, and then delaying them again. And he gets to choose when that happens. Hmmm, he and his wealthy friends are likely playing all of us. What kind of insider trading is that?