Rice-based stable coin is being launched in Indonesia

Rice-based stable coin is being launched in Indonesia

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Insider trading happens when people who have access to confidential information about a company use that to profit off its stock. These insiders include folks like the corporate officers and members of the board of directors. Historically, there have been countless cases of unscrupulous insiders benefitting at the expense of unsuspecting shareholders. For example, suppose an insider knows that some news is about to come out that will cause a company’s stock price to fall. They could go into the market and sell their shares to someone who doesn’t know about the news. Likewise, if there’s news coming out that will drive the price higher, they could buy stock from an unsuspecting shareholder. In order to prevent this type of activity, the government has developed numerous regulations and laws. One requires that, when a company insider decides to buy or sell shares in their company’s stock, they must publicly disclose it to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). That gives outside investors a chance to profit, too.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips Right now, the market is making all-time new highs. Some analysts believe that this recent insanity with GameStop (NYSE:GME) and the cryptocurrency markets are signs that we are in a bubble. Many companies have seen their stock prices soar for no apparent logical or fundamental reasons. 8 Cheap Stocks Under $20 That Could Double But within this wildness, there has also been insider trading in the following seven companies. The insiders have decided to take advantage of the rallies and sell some of their shares. That could mean they believe these stocks are over or fairly valued and will eventually trade lower. aTyr Pharma (NASDAQ:LIFE) ANGI Homeservices (NASDAQ:ANGI) Anaplan (NYSE:PLAN) Tradeweb Markets (NASDAQ:TW) SVMK (NASDAQ:SVMK) Smartsheet (NYSE:SMAR) Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) Insider Traded Stocks to Sell: aTyr Pharma (LIFE) Chart by TradingView A biotherapeutics company, aTyr Pharma was founded in 2005, is based in California and is the first name in this article on insider trading. As you can see in the chart above, shares of LIFE stock doubled in just three days. On Feb. 4, the stock opened at $3.90 per share. Then on Feb. 8 — just two trading days later — shares reached $8.33. There was no news, so the stock was probably taken up by the day traders. However, two company insiders decided to sell some of their shares. President and CEO Sanjay Shukla sold 778 shares at $7.66, while CFO Jill Broadfoot sold 390 shares at $7.66 as well. These were small sales and both insiders continue to hold larger positions. But this could also mean they believe the shares got ahead of themselves in the recent market frenzy. The three analysts on Wall Street that follow this company think aTyr’s long-term prospects are great. According to Tipranks, they all have strong buy ratings on the stock, with an average price target of $13.33. That is about two times higher than where LIFE stock is now. ANGI Homeservices (ANGI) Chart by TradingView ANGI Homeservices operates a digital marketplace that — you guessed it — connects consumers with home service professionals. This is another stock that has ripped higher in the recent market chaos. As you can see on the above chart, the share price appreciated by more than 50% in less than a month. Between Jan. 15 and Feb. 8, ANGI stock rose from around $12 to a close of $18 per share. Allison Lowrie is the CMO of ANGI. She decided to raise some cash and take advantage of the recent move. Based on a SEC Form 4 (which reports insider trading), Lowrie sold 76,903 shares at $17.74 per share. That’s worth close to $1.4 million. 7 Must-Own Stocks in February Wall Street seems to agree with Lowrie that this is a fair valuation for the company. On Tipranks, nine analysts follow ANGI and have an average target price of $17.38. That is somewhat close to the current price of just under $16. Anaplan (PLAN) Chart by TradingView Anaplan is a company that provides a cloud-based planning platform to connect people and organizations. The company was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. On Jan. 28, shares of PLAN stock opened at around $62.50. By Feb. 8, they had reached a high of over $83. That represents a gain of more than 30%. Sandesh Kaveripatnam is a director for Anaplan. In terms of insider trading, Kaveripatnam decided to take advantage of the recent price appreciation and raise some cash. One Feb. 5, he sold 11,991 shares at prices between $78 and $81. That made for a sale amounting well over $900,000. Wall Street thinks that shares are fairly valued at current levels. Moreover, they probably think that Kaveripatnam has made a smart move. On Tipranks, five analysts follow Anaplan. The average target price is $79.59 — relatively in-line with where PLAN stock is currently trading. Tradeweb Markets (TW) Chart by TradingView Next on this insider trading stocks list, Tradeweb Markets builds and operates electronic marketplaces. According to it’s website, the company “offers institutional, wholesale and retail market participants unparalleled liquidity, advanced technology and a broad range of data solutions.” Moreover, Tradeweb operates in both the United States and internationally. It was founded in 1996. As you can see on the above chart, TW stock is trading at a resistance level. Resistance means there is a large concentration of sellers gathered around the same price. When stocks reach resistance levels, they have a tendency to sell off. That has happened with Tradeweb. It hit resistance in both June and December. Now it has reached that level once more. Enrico Bruni is a managing director for the company. Probably believing shares would sell off again, Bruni reportedly sold 142,861 shares at a price of $67.66 on Feb 9. 7 Safe Stocks for Reddit’s WSB Bull Gang Like ANGI and PLAN, the Street thinks TW stock is fairly valued, too. On Tipranks, the seven analysts following the company give this name an average share price of $69.83 — close to current prices. SVMK (SVMK) Chart by TradingView Formerly known as SurveyMonkey, SVMK provides clients with survey software solutions. The company’s products allow other companies to engage with their customers and employees. SVMK was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in San Mateo, California. At the beginning of December, shares of SVMK stock were trading around the $21 level. Since then, they have trended higher. Trading at a high of $28.12 on Feb. 11, the stock currently changes hands closer to $25. Like with other insider trading names on this list, CEO Alexander Lurie just made a significant sale on the stock. Between Feb. 5 and Feb. 8, Lurie sold a total of 16,595 shares at an average price of $28. This is about $460,000 worth of stock. Three analysts follow SVMK stock on Tipranks and they probably agree with Lurie’s decision to sell. Each believes shares are trading at a fair price. The average target is $29. This is only slightly higher than the range that the stock traded at over the past several days — and close to the price that the CEO sold at. Smartsheet (SMAR) Chart by TradingView Smartsheet provides a cloud-based platform for the efficient execution of work. The company was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Washington state. As you can see in the above chart, between late November and now, shares have rallied from $52 to today’s levels of over $80. With SMAR stock trading at about $84 (and rising), this represents a gain of over 60% in less than three months. At least one insider is using this move to lighten up their position. In terms of insider trading, CMO Anna Griffin sold 5,500 shares between $75 and $76 on Feb. 5. That made for a gain of more than $400,000. Other insiders have reported selling shares as well. 7 F-Rated Growth Stocks to Sell Sooner Than Later This company is widely followed by Wall Street. Nine analysts cover the stock on Tipranks. They give it an average target price of $80.89. This is only a few dollars below where it trades today. Twitter (TWTR) Chart by TradingView Last on this list of insider trading stocks, Twitter is a social media company that operates as a platform for public self-expression and conversation in real time — in both the United States and internationally. It was founded in 2006 and has headquarters in San Francisco, California. Like other companies in this article, Twitter has rallied and the insiders are selling. In just the past month, the price of TWTR stock has gone from $46 to $60 and above. The stock trades at around $72 today. On Tipranks, 32 analysts give a price target of $62.86 on Twitter. This is about $10 below the current price. What’s more, Robert Kaiden is the chief accounting officer of the company and sold shares recently. On Feb. 9, Kaiden reported selling 12,032 shares at prices between $55 and $57 a piece. At the time of this publication, Mark Putrino did not have any positions (either directly or indirectly) in any of the aforementioned securities. More From InvestorPlace Why Everyone Is Investing in 5G All WRONG Top Stock Picker Reveals His Next Potential Winner It doesn’t matter if you have $500 in savings or $5 million. Do this now. #1 Play to Profit from Biden’s Presidency The post 7 Stocks With Important Insider Trading Signals That Say Sell appeared first on InvestorPlace.

Forget bitcoin, card firms should embrace stablecoin payments - Gartner

Research house Gartner has poured cold water on Visa’s recent move to support bitcoin trading on its network, arguing that the real revolution in payments would see centralised financial companies support stablecoin transactions on blockchains.

Earlier this week Visa outlined plans for the first pilot of its new suite of crypto APIs, following other industry players such as PayPal and Square in embracing the digital currency movement.

Gartner analyst Avivah Litan says that the move is welcome, and increase the “technical rails between consumers, businesses and blockchains, and help prepare the transition to future payment infrastructure”.

However, in a blog, she also notes that it is “hardly a revolution”. Having centralised financial companies that earn revenues by charging transaction fees at the centre of crypto goes against the peer-to-peer ideals of blockchain payments.

“Potential users are left to wonder if, in the future, they will have to pay these centralised services additional transaction fees for moving cryptocurrency across peer-to-peer blockchain networks, defeating the promise of blockchain,” writes Litan.

Her answer to this problem is for card brands and other established players to provide the on and off ramps for payors and payees using stablecoins, without being involved in the actual payment that would occur on the blockchain.

This would mean Visa and its peers would not get a transaction fee but would make money from issuers and acquirers using services such as risk management, onboarding and protections for balances.

Concludes Litan: “The question remains: will these centralised financial services companies go forward in line with the spirit of blockchain peer to peer payments at the risk of cannibalizing their existing central-clearing house based-revenue streams? The answer will depend on whether or not these firms have any practical choice.”

How Mastercard’s crypto strategy is distinct from its new stablecoin plans

The crypto space lit up late Wednesday when news broke that Mastercard was expanding the scope of its digital currency support.

Mastercard said in a blog post that it was moving to enable its systems to facilitate payments in the form of stablecoins directly to merchants who choose to accept them. Such a service will complement Mastercard’s existing crypto card-focused offerings, through which consumers can spend their cryptocurrencies via an issuer’s card – though in the end, the transaction is settled outside of Mastercard and in the form of fiat currency like the U.S. dollar.

The payments firm’s chief financial officer, Sachin Mehra, discussed the expanded offerings during a virtual event hosted by Goldman Sachs on Wednesday, according to a published transcript obtained by The Block. But more broadly – and, perhaps, more importantly – Mehra provided a clear-cut break down of how Mastercard views what he termed “sub-categories” of digital currencies: cryptocurrencies, fiat-backed stablecoins and central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs.

Mehra called crypto “an asset class,” adding: “It’s not a payment vehicle as far as we’re concerned.” He spoke about Mastercard’s crypto card program and indicated that such efforts would continue and grow over time. “We’re seeing tremendous growth in that space,” said Mehra, saying later:

“So that’s kind of – and we’ve got numerous agreements in that regard, which are already in play. And we’ll continue to do more and more of those because people want to be able to use that asset class to make payments at the point of sale.”

On the subject of stablecoins, Mehra noted that “we have plans to enable those, regulation pending, across our network.”

Mehra continued:

“So in other words, the delivery of those stablecoins and to allow the settlement of those stablecoins with those merchants who wish to be settling in those stablecoins on a forward-going basis. So we are enabling our network to allow for that to happen yet this year.”

Lastly, Mehra discussed Mastercard’s work in the area of CBDCs, which is perhaps a bit more theoretical given that such currencies remain in their nascent stage. Yet payments firms big and small appear to be positioning themselves as possible service providers should they take off – PayPal being one of those, according to statements from the firm’s leadership – and it seems that Mastercard is no exception.

“We can bring the technology,” said Mehra. “We have – we’re the leader – one of the leaders in terms of the patents we have developed in terms of DLT. And how we can help [central banks] at the infrastructure level and/or the application and services level is something we remain engaged with on numerous [fronts] with several central banks.”

Mehra concluded his remarks by calling the broader crypto sphere “a space to keep an eye on.”

“I think it will ebb and flow depending on what the flavor of the day is as it relates to cryptos. We’ve seen run-ups in crypto prices in the past. But broadly speaking, the use of digital ledger technology is something we will remain focused on.”

One potential conclusion from Mehra’s comments is that whereas Mastercard is interested in capturing value around the interest in cryptocurrencies, the payments firm views stablecoins as worth the investments required to integrate them into its systems. And as for CBDCs, those remain on the horizon – albeit one that might one day constitute an entirely new business line.