4/03/2011

Who is calling the shot in the stock market industry?

SGX is still fighting tooth and nail to get married to ASX. It has offered the highest dowry it could pay and may even have to go on its knees to ask for the hands of the bride. According to some financial analyst, this marriage is like a life and death situation. Without the copulation, there would not be any future down the road. Both parties, on its own, without being hooked together, will be left on the lurch. The stock market industry has changed. The big funds are now calling the shot and dictating how the stock markets should operate. Big funds will eat into the market share of officially corporatized stock markets around the world by playing foul. No, not really. They just hook their super computers into the stock market system to take advantage of their high speed and technology to clean up the small players, with approval from the stock exchanges. This is now legal. Stock markets now do not have to ensure a level playing field. For if they do so, the big funds will not want to play ball with them. They are now held at ransom by the big funds and have to take orders from the big funds. And the big funds simply say, I want to take advantage of the system with my technology. To hell with the small traders. It is us or them. The next great fear is Dark Pools. The Dark Pool operators make transactions in the dark, unknown to the rest of the investors. They could also trade outside the stock market system. The need for transparency to ensure that all traders are privy to the same information, and level playing field, no longer apply to the Dark Pool operators. As long as the stock exchanges know, or the Dark Pools informed the stock exchanges, that is good enough. The rest of the traders need not know who buys what and in what volume. The same reasons go. The Dark Pools are going to eat up the market shares of existing legal stock exchanges and the stock exchanges cannot do anything about it. The stock exchanges must compete under the same rules and operating styles of the big funds and Dark Pool operators, or else they will go the way of the Dodo bird. The govt controlled stock exchanges around the world are threatened by the big funds and their big machines and the Dark Pools. You have to believe this logic. It is the new testament, the new commandments. The rogues are telling the govt constituted stock exchanges how the game should be played, under their terms and conditions! In the name of fair play, transparency, level playing field, could not the govt make such unfair practices illegal? Why are the govts across the world not stopping such nonsense from going on? The big funds and Dark Pools are cheating and robbing the investors with unfair advantages and practices. Is there such thing as right or wrong today? Is there such thing as legal or illegal? When the rogues and gangsters run the show, where will it lead to? You may wonder why the big funds and Dark Pool operators did not go to the casino to do the same thing. The answer is obvious. The losers will be the casino operators. In the case of stock exchanges, the losers will not be the exchange but the disadvantaged investors.

6 comments:

Wally Buffet said...

If you truly believed what you wrote, then you should get out of the kitchen because it's obviously getting too hot for your comfort.

Take up vegetable farming or raise some goats because everything nowadays is cornered by the "gangstas."

Go with the flow and I'm pretty sure you can make a decent living.


Hehe.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

Personally, I think all the panic over Dark Pools is unwarranted. The objective of the game of capitalism is to amass as many 'chips' as you can. Therefore it is reasonable to assume that the larger your pile of 'chips' awards you a certain initial advantage when it comes to 'placing bets' or 'putting your money where your mouth is'. You can still lose your shirt if you are 'wrong'. Sure there're the attempts to pump-and-dump – but since players already know that such things can happen, they come to the market voluntarily and therefore implicitly agree to accept whatever risk the market has – whether the risks are judged 'fair' or 'unfair'.

Playing in the market is not a 'right'. It is an honorific – meaning; no one forces you to play, and if you do play you are expected to come in with money. No money, go away.
Too hot? Get over it or get out. (echoing Wally)

The SGX-ASX merger is just about dead. Finito. Habis. Balek Kampong.

The really bad stench is the fact that Temasek's profile, although Temasek's a non-voting shareholder, just doesn't cut it in Aust parliament. Singapore's political family, lack of democracy is the issue. The scaremongering from all sides in parliament has been baseless, hysterical and just downright silly. As usual, the politicians are an embarrassment. They can't just leave the private sector alone to make money, oh no, they have to get in there and mess things up – that's what you get when there is too much interference from the state.

If I were the SGX, I would cut my losses and GTFO. Thanks to Bernanke, commodities are hot, and Aussie miners and agri-business are riding high, and the AUD – a commodity-based currency – is enjoying strong purchasing power.

At the moment, most economic/ financially illiterate Aussies are enjoying the euphoria created by Bernanke's money pump. Queensland's mines are mostly out of action until they are repaired. Thus WA – where I live – is going fucking insane – thanks to the global bubbles and inflationary growth. The Japs need our stuff to rebuild, the Chinese, Indians and S Koreans are still buying heaps.

As a local, you can't get decent beef under $16 per kg – all the good stuff is exported, or pay premium. Food court prices start at $10. Average weekly wage: $1200 +. The State govt is so rich that it is now becoming intolerably arrogant, and behaving like a 'moraliser' now and has started to dictate to us what we should or should not do. Free society my two hairy ding-dong. But at least they are 'switched on' when it comes to business. WA state govt is for open borders and easy immigration. They also defend as best they can any extra Federal taxation – like the heated rows over mining and carbon taxes.

IMO, the SGX-ASX merger would have had better chance if Aust was broke, and the only white Turd Wurld Cuntry – as it has been, a few times in its embarrassing command-economy past.

Sadly, from the ASX's point of view, Australia is just feeling a bit 'too rich' at the moment.

As we see inflation start to bite across the world, it could be soon that we have a much needed 'correction' in Aust.

As reader's already know: I'm not a big fan of increasing asset prices as a measure of 'wealth'. In fact, I detest high asset prices: I like assets to be cheap, so I can buy large amounts with my scarce dollars. I like assets which are severely under-priced and generating lots of free cash flow. As the Hokkein saying goes: I want large breasts, youthful sensuality...and I want it cheap.

Bring on the crash!

Wally Buffet said...

"I want large breasts, youthful sensuality...and I want it cheap."

Even the good time girls' monetary expectations are already escalating citing inflation.

There is a way to get over this conundrum. Bluff your way through with lots of promises like what the American banking crooks did. Then you might just get a slice or at least a bite of the yummy cheesecake without breaking the bank account.

Hehe.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

KPKB has its purpose. If not, all the injustice and unfairness and exploitation in the socio and political system should go unchastised. Then all the shit that the Singaporeans are slammed with should remain on their faces forever. All the bad policies will go on and on.

The injustice and unfairness of societies must be spoken, loud and clear. At least the perpetrators know that the masses are awared of what they are doing and it is just not time yet to kick asses.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

Sure it can be argued that complaining about 'injustices' has a place.

But honestly, it won't have much to do with changing anything. Still, it is your right to speak and express, and that right needs constant 'exercise'.

Anyway, there must be first 'injustices' to yell about. To me markets are ...what markets are. .. imperfect self-interested human beings all trying to 'grab some action'. And invariably some people start to 'play dirty'.

That's life lah.

Wally: yes, Bernanke's money printing has caused yet another bubble in the 'pussy rental' market, especially for the nubile and booty-licious.

Fortunately, I have some 'market-value' left. And I don't really go for 'girls'. I like women -- all MILF's and Lau Sui's are most welcome. :-)

Wally Buffet said...

Even casinos we now depend on for our economic remodelling play dirty by raising the odds on the gamblers losing their pants let alone winning anything.

Life is unfair.

Living with it and working around it is the key to being sanguine and looking at everything with equanimity.

I don't like MILF or the old dishy birds past their womanhood prime of 30.

I prefer them under 30, inexperienced, gullible, clueless, wet behind the ears and let this old man take her hand and show her how!

At minimum expenses of course!

Hehe.