The documentary, To Catch a Trader, revolves around firms, stocks, and a concept known as insider trading. Insider trading is the illegal practice of trading stocks while having confidential non-public information. Material nonpublic information is any information that could reasonably be expected to affect the price of security and that information is not generally known or available to the public. The film starts off by explaining the concept of nonpublic information and this leads to a highly successful hedge funds firm named S.A.C. Capital Advisors. Hedge funds are a limited partnership of investors that uses high risk methods, such as investing with borrowed money, in hopes of realizing large capital gains. …show more content…
The first ally that they show under investigation is Raj Rajaratnam and his firm Galleon Group. It is shown that this firm gets tips about stocks from an abundant of outside sources. Whether it is from low ranking employees of the stock this firm wants to invest in or friends from another firm that has the upper hand, Galleon Group was proven to have insider trading going on and with the help of wiretapping. An interview stated that it is tough to what is inside information. When wiretapping a conversation between two stokers, it is almost impossible to determine what you are looking for. When searching for a ‘hot tip’ it is better to look out for key words. Like how in the beginning, a man got a call a few minutes before a stock went up and was advised to invest in it. Specific words were used and it was clear that this was illegal information. This can’t always be the case in busting someone, but if during the conversation, a stock rising is brought up and it doesn’t seem like just a speculation it is best to keep a watchful eye on the caller and the stocks they intend to invest in. This strategy led to Raj Rajaratnam and his affiliations being