In India, opinion polls cannot be conducted or published 48 hours before polling. In addition, exit polls cannot to conducted or published until the polling process is completed in all phases. It is done to ensure that polls do not manipulate public opinion and election results represent "honest" public opinion. Though the EC and most recognized national political parties are in favour of a complete ban on opinion polls so that opinions remain raw and unbiased, the incumbent government disagrees with this proposition, citing the "Freedom of Speech," a quotation because it's a fundamental right taken from the constitution, no pun intended, I swear.
Coming to the point, I have been actively tracking stock markets for a while now, along with watching business news channels. I have failed to understand how SEBI can allow experts to give calls/tips during the market operation time. Why haven't they taken any lessons from the EC to stop the manipulation of stock prices? Aren't there apparent disparities in the actions of two regulators regarding public opinion, be it for fair valuation/price of a stock or competence of political parties to run a government? This manipulation of prices from experts' calls might seem like a tall claim, but 3x-4x sputs in the volume, stock fundamental calls trading at unrealistic P/Es and far-fetched valuations, prices crashing minutes after such calls hinting at 'pump and dump' etc., end up supporting this claim.
In my trading journey to date, I have learned to get out of a long position as soon as an expert recommends long in the same stock and vice-versa, and this practice has been working for me to date. I'm not saying that all these calls are wrong, but the accuracy of such calls is far below the average of all successful technical traders. Recently the regulator has mandated experts to clarify their and their clients' position in a given call. Though most experts deny themselves or their clients having any position in that call, the evident and personally observed practice of 'pump and dump' raises suspicion about such claims. Here's a link to this happening with a disclaimer: I have not recorded this video but found it online. I found it genuine, but I don't take any responsibility for its authenticity. https://youtu.be/eODHS1cjOJ0
The sad part is that many innocent retail traders get trapped in such calls and incur losses. I firmly believe that SEBI should take measures to stop this practice, and calls should be allowed only before and after market hours. SEBI should proactively ban this practice of experts' calls during trading hours and set a precedence for other countries' regulators to follow suit.
As a trader, I hope that this happens soon. My fingers are crossed.
