Borsa Istanbul issues statement on ‘mysterious investor’

ISTANBUL

Turkey’s main stock exchange, Borsa Istanbul, has said all trading transactions are closely followed and the capital markets watchdog is informed about any suspicious transactions in a written statement on March 12, following a Bloomberg report and the following stories about a mysterious investor, dubbed “the dude,” who was said to be responsible for massive transactions in the Turkish markets. 

“A number of news stories were published yesterday in several media outlets in regard to some transactions in our bourse. Any price and amount moves in our bourse stocks are monitored by an inner system, which functions in accordance with specific criteria. Besides, any notifications and complaints about such stocks, which are sent to our bourse, as well as such news stories are also monitored and reviewed and then reported to the Capital Markets Board [SPK] if any suspicious moves are detected,” said Borsa Istanbul. 

A “mystery investor,” who first appeared a year and a half ago with $450 million of bets on a single day, almost double the market average, is now claimed to be executing huge transactions with increasing frequency, Bloomberg News had reported on March 11. 

This “dude” is not believed to be an individual but rather a group of people who know the Turkish markets very well and use sophisticated algorithmic systems, sources told daily Hürriyet. 

Daily Habertürk had claimed “the dude” was an Indian manager of a London-based hedge fund in a report on March 12.