When Northern Rock crashed, the shares fell steeply. As this happened, thousands of investment bankers knew it was their time to make some money and quick. On the 1st October, Northern Rock shares were at a year-low of 132.5p as thousands of customers withdrew their money in the fear of losing it all. A week and a half later, this price per share had almost doubled and is still on its way up.
The idea of buying shares low and selling them high is what stockbrokers and investment bankers do in a nutshell. The way they have bought these Northern Rock shares is simple. As the government has declared that they will make sure Northern Rock gets back on track, the prices will surely go further up and up over the next year. This means three or even fourfold returns on what they have spent will be almost certain. These 'market players' could even sell their shares now and receive double what they spent. However, don't all aspire to do these jobs as a lot could be lost and quickly with risks taken on other businesses.
The banking market as a whole is not in a great state. HBOS has had a bad half-year and shares have plummeted 300p. Families with shares were stunned by this unexpected occurence as one mother declared 'This is not great at the moment considering I was going to sell my shares within the next month. I don't want to lose my money, so I think I'll wait and see if they return back to normal.'
I am sure some of us hope that the banking sector in our country's stock market will not return to normal and will use it as a way of making quick money. If everyone had the courage to invest in businesses, more and more money would be made and lost. Being a market player means you have to be tactical and know your statistics. It's hard work, but if you know what you're doing, a huge amount of money can be made.