Mark Hughes, ContributorI’m
not sure this trader-guy is the same guy from Yes Men in the Dow
Chemical video. Here, look at this clip of the Yes Men guy, the same
guy who was in t [...]
nickbraakI
work in the areas of online identity checking, OSINT and reputation, so
I did a little quick digging and found that he has content online going
to 2009. [...]
Daniel Nye Griffiths, ContributorIt
seems perfectly possible that he’s a real trader, but he’s also a day
trader – no more a “City trader” than I am. The more interesting
question might be [...]Page 3 of 4
FORBES: What’s the tick size in the Dow?
AR: It’s .25 each tick. For the S&Ps…. well, for the S&P we’re talking about $12.50, each tick. The Dow Jones futures, each tick will cost $5. That’s why I do the Dow Jones futures.
FORBES: Who are your favorite traders?
AR: Well, here’s the deal. If I was going to mention somebody, it probably would be…. If I mention somebody, I’m giving free publicity to them, right?…. I would say, man… let’s see… I’ve quite liked what I read about…. basically I remember reading a long time ago about Linda Raschke in America. At the moment, Guy Cohen. He’s a trader in the U.K. what I like about Guy Cohen is he’s a very conservative trader.
FORBES: Do you work from an office or home?
AR: I work from home. Just going to go back earlier about Dow Jones and S&P, it was $5 per contract, $5 a tick for the Dow each contract. And the S&Ps, each tick is $12.50.
FORBES: Where do you live?
AR: In south London.
FORBES: What do you think of the attention you’ve received since going on TV?
AR: I think it’s overblown. I have no idea why I’m getting this attention. I don’t think it was news. For someone to say what I said, I thought everybody already knew this kind of stuff. The big players of funds rule the world, I don’t think that was news. And what I said about making money from a crash, obviously not everybody knows about that, you can make money from a downward market. A lot of people just got the wrong end of the foot, misunderstood what I was saying. They thought I was joyful or licking my lips about the idea of making money from people’s miseries. That’s probably the way it looked on the video. But if they watch the whole video, what I was really trying to say is people need to educate themselves about how to do that… what I was trying to say was, look, everyone should basically prepare. I was trying to be the good guy. If this market’s going to crash, then you’ve got to prepare yourself. You’ve got to basically learn how to make money from this. Otherwise you’ll be like I did 10 years ago … I made some huge mistakes 10 years ago, during the dotcom crash. I realized it was a falling knife. I was trying to say look guys, it’s not just for traders, it’s for everyone. They should ask me how to do it, I will help you.
FORBES: Are you saying trading is easy?
AR: No, absolutely not. Trading is not easy at all. What I’m saying is people should educate themselves. People shouldn’t really gamble on the markets.
Mark Hughes, ContributorI’m
not sure this trader-guy is the same guy from Yes Men in the Dow
Chemical video. Here, look at this clip of the Yes Men guy, the same
guy who was in t [...]nickbraakI
work in the areas of online identity checking, OSINT and reputation, so
I did a little quick digging and found that he has content online going
to 2009. [...]Daniel Nye Griffiths, ContributorIt
seems perfectly possible that he’s a real trader, but he’s also a day
trader – no more a “City trader” than I am. The more interesting
question might be [...]
Doctors And AMA Split Over Contentious Issue Of ObamaCare
+123,076 views
Trader Or Prankster? We Called Alessio Rastani And Asked
+75,789 views
Google Launches The Ultimate Jobs Killer
+22,672 views
Post Your Comment
Don't have an account?
Join Forbes Now.
Comments
There is an Alessio Rastani appearing on the electoral roll as living in North Kent, or to put it another way, S. London, over the last few years who would be about the right age.
I’m not sure this trader-guy is the same guy from Yes Men in the Dow Chemical video. Here, look at this clip of the Yes Men guy, the same guy who was in the Dow Chemical hoax interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhrpSW_pnck
Here he is in a video about the Dow Chemical hoax:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiWlvBro9eI
Here are some photos of him:
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Andy+Bichlbaum%22&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1280&bih=666
Is that the same guy? He seems older and with a different shaped face, brow, and ears to me, but I can’t say for 100% sure, of course. Maybe he’s another member of the group, or is part of their general offer to folks who can pull of this kind of hoax, though… ?
I am SO unbelievably sick of corrupt newspaper paying idiotic journalists to do their dirty cover ups.
The trader looks NOTHING like the guy from yes men.
The BBC and other big institutions are scared of the publics reaction and ARE CLEARLY trying to frame this Trader.
The trader speaks the truth. Which is that the money institutions DO rule the world. and that a select few not only profit from the collapses but they also help to cause them!!!!
Until we wake up to the lies that the big money makers spread to stay on top we are consistantly slapped in the face by these pathetic journalists.
The Trader last night was just being brutally HONEST.
SCREW YOU FORBES FOR TRYING TO DECEIVE THE PUBLIC AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!
I checked out the video of the Yes-Man in the interview based on the Bhopal Disaster, and it is clearly not the same person.
I am very disappointed in your article, you have implied this guy is a fake, provided no evidence inferred that he is a fake.
So if we can’t rely on the BBC, since he is not an established employed trader and can’t rely on Forbes, because the report on their gut instinct with no facts or verification of the facts, where do we go from here?
Emily Lambert you need a slap in the face for trying to deceive the public!
Just because you spent years working hard to get this good job as a journalist does not mean you have to put up with the forbes decision makers as they do their best to corrupt you. Where is your integrity?
This is a pack of LIES LIES LIES.
The trader was speaking the brutal TRUTH. and looks nothing like the yes man.
I work in the areas of online identity checking, OSINT and reputation, so I did a little quick digging and found that he has content online going to 2009. Youtube, facebook and myspace. Those timelines are almost impossible to fake. I say he is real.
Also whilst searching I found a story about young love in Iran.
“Alessio Rastani, 33, is a London stock market trader of Italo-Iranian origin. He regularly visits his relatives in Tehran.”
http://observers.france24.com/content/20101006-iran-youth-flirting-tehran-cars-traffic-jam-boys-girls-iran-zamin
Nick — it’s obvious he’s real. It’s purely the work of propaganda producing any doubt. He didn’t even say anything that isn’t common knowledge to everyone not a) fully propagandized in favor of markets/wall st/capitalism, or b) in denial due to being involved in the markets. Of course Forbes is going to throw up a title positing if he’s a prankster, but everyone knows politics is the shadow cast by big banks. My god, read the CitiGroup “Plutonomy” memo and get a grip.
E. D. Kain had a comment about Mr. Rastani yesterday on these pages.
This man, whoever he is, was obviously “talking his book.” He’s short up to his eyeballs, and speaking to the BBC is a perfect opportunity to say things that will make his short positions more valuable.
Only one problem; it didn’t work!
Easy come, easy go . . .
I am sure he is a trader. His experience and knowledge bout the market cant be faked easily.
Even if hes a prankster, he sure did a lot of homework to even fool me.
And he is persistent bout the Dow future, thats a trader’s ego.
At least he did better than the forbes interviewer. FORBES: Do you trade the VIX?
Do Forbes people even need to ask this…. Probably an amateur interviewer.
I admit Emily Lambert is very hot, but she just dont have what it takes to be in the market sector.
And no way i gonna get her “history” books .
I probably will be more interested on how market makers earn money from stop losss hunting, forex market makers insiders info, blah blah, dirty Federal Reserve scandal, blah blah, something like that.
It seems perfectly possible that he’s a real trader, but he’s also a day trader – no more a “City trader” than I am. The more interesting question might be how the BBC got hold of him in the first place, if so. If he speaks at small investor events, as he seems to, he might possibly have an agent touting him for media placements – he might be a friend of a friend, or there might have been an appeal on social media for a trader to be interviewed.
There are plenty of soi-disant investment experts sitting at desks in their homes trading more or less successfully. Some will have strong views, and most will have less media training than any representative of, say, Goldmans trusted to go in front of a camera. If anyone at the institutions is praying for a recession, they certainly won’t be saying it on TV, because their business model is not built around website hits and bookings at speaking events…
He’s clearly not Andy Bichlbaum. See photo comparison here:
http://metabunk.org/threads/265-Debunked-Alessio-Rastani
Bichlbaum and Rastani are two different people; look at recent videos of Bichlbaum (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOia0yByoDM). Unless the shape of his chin and nose changed, and he had an SFX artist create prostheses to cover his wrinkles and create a new hairline.