Intrade to leave US market

[shari91]

Intrade to leave US market

Intrade, the popular online trading exchange, will no longer serve the US market. In a letter explaining the decision to account holders, Intrade cited mounting legal and regulatory pressure. US customers have been instructed to close all open predictions and withdraw their balances prior to December 31st. | Read more

[Art Vandeleigh]

Seems like the U.S. government wants to punish Intrade pretty badly ($130k per violation) for trading in markets that are considered off limits by those overseeing commodities in the U.S (i.e gold, currencies, oil, etc...)

The amounts traded for these contracts at Intrade aren't only trivial, they are hyper-trivial. Talking about hundreds, maybe a couple of thousand dollars- PER YEAR!!!

They don't have a market maker for these contracts. All they do is provide a platform for a few folks to trade a few $10 contracts with each other.

While not an anarchist, I do hope Intrade countersues for this hyper-annoying lawsuit as nothing more than pure, unadulterated bullying and harrassing by the U.S. government.

[shari91]

Seems like the U.S. government wants to punish Intrade pretty badly ($130k per violation) for trading in markets that are considered off limits by those overseeing commodities in the U.S (i.e gold, currencies, oil, etc...)

The amounts traded for these contracts at Intrade aren't only trivial, they are hyper-trivial. Talking about hundreds, maybe a couple of thousand dollars- PER YEAR!!!

They don't have a market maker for these contracts. All they do is provide a platform for a few folks to trade a few $10 contracts with each other.

While not an anarchist, I do hope Intrade countersues for this hyper-annoying lawsuit as nothing more than pure, unadulterated bullying and harrassing by the U.S. government.

I think what's pissed the government off is that Intrade agreed in 2005 to stop offering these contracts to US clients and paid a $150k fine at the time. Why it took a further 7yrs for the government to pull them up on it again who knows but I kind of get the impression they're screwed now. Well, I guess they could come up with a reason for why they didn't fulfill their promise last time they were nailed but it seems they'd need to be quite creative with that explanation, no?

[Art Vandeleigh]

Yes I guess both sides are engaging in some head scratching behavior. U.S. government waiting so long to re-strike, Intrade for offering "contoversial" contracts no one trades.

In 2012, the only commodity trading at Intrade are gold and oil prices. The gold contract does have a clear statement next to the contract saying it is for non-U.S. traders only. Guess the oil contract is legal for Americans.

All in all, seems like much ado about not very much.

[wrongturn]

Could it be related to US presidential election? I am sure the money traded there for election was huge, and US government probably don't think it is a good idea to future elections. Plus, it consistently gave out wrong price anyway, so it must be misleading.

[gregm]

I guess the CFTC figured if Nadex couldnt mix politics and trading, Intrade wasnt going to go untouched. I think the next elections may be very different from a gambling perspective, they would have probably been alright if they had of stayed out of the election.

If anyone has any kids that want to just learn about investing using virtual markets or you just like messing around with these markets, some of these prediction markets are still around. Alot more educational and fun than farmville or pogo. Older article but some of these are still around

http://goshycab.com/2010/11/22/10-things-you-can-bet-on-legally/

Media predict is still around, most of these stock ones ( investopedia, predict wall street) are still around.

Still my favorite futures market( virtual futures market) http://www.hsx.com/

http://www.businessinsider.com/have-you-invested-in-the-hollywood-stock-exchange-2012-6