RE: Insider Buy: Silver Linked Notes? Regarding my 2nd question:
Ownership can be either direct or indirect. Direct ownership means that the stock is registered under the insider's name. The SEC states that indirect ownership refers to "securities held by members of a person's immediate family that share the same household." Immediate family refers to children, stepchildren, grandchildren, parents, stepparents, grandparents, in-laws, and includes adoptive relationships.
The SEC further assumes that insiders have indirect ownership of shares owned by a partnership or corporation insiders are a part of, and of trusts in which they are involved.
Generally, irect transactions yield more information than indirect. However, indirect holdings can be just as instructive. For example, if a CEO was making trades for a child's trust fund, they probably wouldn't be terribly ill-timed.
In general, an open market transaction is more telling then non-open market one, and transactions by insiders with duties to the company are more significant than those of insiders without them,i.e. the trades of the CEO should carry more weight than a member of the board of directors.