RSX/OZON Update: Winter is Here. Winter is Cold and Unforgiving

[Machetephil]

This is a follow-up to the prior thread, which is over 1,000 posts long and be found here:

RSX & OZON Updates & MOEX Status

RSX and Puts - A Match Made in Valhalla RSX There has been a lot of discussion/concerns over the past couple of days about the status of RSX and put options that folks have purchased. As of this post, RSX is halted from trading. This includes both options and shares. This means that you cannot currently buy or sell shares or option contracts for RSX. This will continue to be the case until RSX is unhalted. Will RSX de-list? Will it liquidate? What’s the difference? The answer to the first two questions is that we do not know, but I am making an educated guess that RSX will both de-list and liquidate. This is based purely on my observations about the current NAV of RSX, the current price of the stock relative to NAV (549% premium) and the fact that RSX’s holdings are only going to go down in value in the short term. But more importantly, here is the difference. De-listing a stock means that the exchange on which the stock is traded removes that stock from the exchange. The company has no control over this. It is entirely up to the exchange whether to de-list the company and exchanges have certain criteria they evaluate for doing so. RSX is traded on the BATS exchange. BATS was acquired by Cboe in 2017. So essentially the stock is trading on an exchange that is owned by Cboe and is following Cboe rules and regulations. This is why VanEck said Cboe had halted trading options on Friday morning even though technically it was BATS. De-listing does not mean the stock goes away. Once a stock is removed from the exchange, it is trade over-the-counter, or directly through market makers. It is still possible to both buy and sell shares of a stock that is not traded on an exchange. For example, I know for a fact that Charles Schwab permits its accountholders to purchase OTC stocks. Liquidating means VanEck (not Cboe) chooses to liquidate RSX. If that occurs, VanEck will commence an orderly sale of all the holdings in RSX and then distribute the cash to each shareholder. When an ETF liquidates, the shares are cancelled and the shareholders receive their respective shares of cash in exchange for cancellation of shares. In this scenario, the shares go away. What does de-listing means for my puts? If BATS decides to de-list RSX, BATS will announce a de-listing date, which would be the date after which RSX will stop trading on the exchange. After that, RSX will continue to trade OTC unless it is liquidated by VanEck. As for what this means for your puts, de-listing does not guarantee the stock price goes down, but it is 99.9999% guaranteed. Look at what happened with RUSL last week. When it was announced that RUSL would be de-listed, the stock plummeted to NAV. You should reasonably expect a similar movement in RSX if de-listing is announced. If that occurs, your put options will be worth shitload more because the puts will be deeply ITM. De-listing is the second-best outcome. What happens to my put options if RSX liquidates? …

On August 30, 2022, I filed lawsuits against my brokers for their actions related to RSX/OZON. While I cannot discuss the details of this lawsuit, I can say two things: (1) I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t believe in the claims; and (2) I have continued to move forward with the goal of treating this as though I had little to no money. I want everyone to be able to do what I’m doing.

So, let’s say you got fucked by RSX/OZON and let’s say you want to sue your broker. How do you do it? You file a FINRA arbitration claim against them. You will need legal representation; however, that is not something you need to pay out of pocket to do. Many lawyers will take your case(s) on a contingency fee basis, where they take a percentage of whatever you collect.

Here is a list of experienced FINRA lawyers who represent consumers:

https://piaba.org/find-attorney

Please go there and find one for your state. If you are in the Midwest, DM me and I can recommend the lawyer I hired (no I’m not representing myself, this has to be repeatable).

And then let’s say the lawyer says “I don’t know if you have a claim” or “I don’t know what a claim would look like” or “what laws did they violate”. What do you do then?

In that purely hypothetical situation, you could potentially look on the forums for the following purely hypothetical draft of what a purely hypothetical claim against your broker would look like and then give it to your lawyer.

Statement of Claim.docx (22.3 KB)

Obviously this attachment has nothing to do when anything I’ve done. It’s just something I hypothetically came across that could hypothetically be useful. Hypothetically.

More to come.

[Brutus]

If someone hypothetically lost $20k, would it be hypothetically worthwhile to pursue or too low a figure? Lost as in, the $5k investment should be worth $20k

[Machetephil]

Hypothetically, that would have resulted in a $15k profit and if you were retain an attorney on a contingency fee then hypothetically you could recover a net gain of $8k-$10k after your attorney takes his or her cut. Hypothetically.

[Brutus]

Thx for sharing! You are a fantastic contributor, really appreciate you.

[Kevin]

Hypothetically would you have advice on which lawyer to contact for this if Canadian?