The banker and the public servant accused of one the largest insider trading operations in the nation's history made a couple of key errors. First, they used the foreign exchange market rather than the bond market for their alleged illicit dealings.
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And given the privileged information they had, they should have made $70 million rather then their reported $7 million gain, according to veteran traders.
With the money they did make, it seems they splashed out on lavish items that easily drew attention - another rookie mistake.
You only need to watch the Martin Scorcese film Goodfellas to know you spend the money gradually, and not on flashy, expensive items.
But there probably isn't a trader in the world who, at some stage, hasn't thought about getting vital information before anyone else.
Each month, or quarter, when the country's key economic data is released at 11.30am, the art of making money would be so much easier if you knew the numbers in advance.
In the 1990s some trading desks would send staff to the office of the Australian Bureau of Statistics to be first there when the data was manually released.
As soon as the latest current account data was known, they would be on the phone straight away trying to be the first to report back with the market-moving information.
But once everyone started doing that, the edge was gone.
Although dealing in shares tends to get the headlines when it comes to insider trading scandals there is, at times, more money to be made in bond futures.
In addition, the Australian dollar sometimes does not necessarily move in line with the sensitive information that was leaked about the labour force, retail and trade figures. In the bond and interest rate market, however, it does.
And by placing big trades in the foreign exchange market, the two accused men were more likely to stand out, as trading volumes can be thin leading into and straight after the release of vital economic data.
Some traders said that if the two men had opted to trade in smaller parcels, they might have got away with it for longer.
The other talking point on trading desks was about the performance, generally, of public servants over the years.
Given the highly sensitive nature of so much information passing through so many hands at the ABS and the Reserve Bank, many market veterans on Friday were praising the honesty and integrity of the public service.
