Trading Manipulation at Tradesports and IEM - ATTN FREEPERS BC04 need to be informed!!!

[Steel and Fire and Stone]

T R O L L ...... A L E R T

[bucephalus]

He may be a troll, but the fact is that the Iowa and the Sports markets have dropped dramatically recently. Hopefully somebody is just making money, throwing good money after bad, or something. Still . . .?

[looney tune]

Personally, I use the 7-11 coffee cup indicator.

[NativeNewYorker]

actually, many very serious financial types DO look at those markets regularly....but we're clever enough to see when they're being manipulated, and discount the result appropriately.

[AmericaUnited]

STOP IT! Splash cold water on your face and stop getting hysterical. Virtually no one cares about these markets.

[mabelkitty]

This is a gambling site.
This is ridiculous.

[Maria S]

Thaaaaaannnnnkkkk yew!!!!

[ninonitti]

This is a gambling site. This is ridiculous.

Who started this thread - Bill Bennett?

[PBRSTREETGANG]

BCO4 needs to be informed?

(BC04 would probably suggest a chill pill.)

[Lee_Atwater]

Jim...if you are confident that the chances of Bush reelection are over 50%, place bids below 50.0. If someone dumps large amounts at a low ask, you can pick up their shares. Just recently, the PRESIDENT.GWBUSH2004 contract has traced all the way back to 10 (10% chance of Bush win). The market quickly recovered and the trader that picked up those contracts realized a 500% return (if sold) when the contract price traced back to 50. (50% chance of Bush win).

TradeSports may or may not have been subject to attempted manipulation. However, the market is liquid enough to absorb any inefficient pricing quickly.

So, I don't think you should be too concerned about these matters. I will say that I disagree with the posters who have totally dismissed the political futures markets in their replies to you.

[Josh in PA]

Sorry.. but you are a fool if you think Tradesports or IEM has any affect on anything.

[reformedliberal]

RCP links to IEM and TradeSports.

Last night on a sailing list my husband spends time on, there was a post cajoling people to buy Kerry futures cheap to make a killing. It was similar to the pump and dump type posts on stock message boards.

Not one response to that post as of late last night.

It may not affect the election, but those 2 sites ARE referenced in pundit comments when they run out of good Kerry news from other sources.

On election/poll threads yesterday, some nervous nellies were handwringing over the betting sites. They may have been trolls or just unsophisticated, but it affects morale.

So, for whatever reason, manipulation is being attempted. Markets are usually self-correcting. However, when IEM is up for W, we always report their historical accuracy.

I would say stay out of these markets unless you are sophisticated enough to play this manipulation for your own benefit and do not use them as forecasts.

[mcg1969]

So, for whatever reason, manipulation is being attempted.

The reason is obvious: TO MAKE MONEY. With a market as small as IEM or Tradesports, an enterprising trader with a fat wallet can do a lot.

[AHerald]

Sorry.. but you are a fool if you think Tradesports or IEM has any affect on anything.

Like a Jedi mind trick--it only affects the weak-minded.