Chicago residents grew up to the sound of local early morning radio rundowns of pork belly futures and other exchange traded commodities. Every trick in the book from manipulation of soybeans to silver has played out in Chicago's trading pits. Every market professional I've talked to in Chicago since Thursday is of the same opinion. It makes no difference whether human beings or computers are front running and manipulating trades. The gyrations in the market last week have the look and feel of classic market manipulation.
If you want to manipulate a market, deregulate it as much as possible. Then make it as "dark," and fast as possible. Make it hard for outsiders to view your trades as they get done, and make it even harder for anyone to figure out why you are trading. Get as much monopoly power as possible over the market. Get funding at the cheapest possible rate. The best possible rate is the near zero cost funding available from the Federal Reserve.
Next, get your "men" stationed in the most influential positions at the exchanges. Make sure your cronies have shock and awe market dominance through, say, High Frequency Trading algorithms that now make up the majority of stock trades.
Then, make sure you have advance information of major market-moving events. A bailout announcement by the European Union would do nicely. A few days before the announcement, "bang" the market. Pound down the value so you can monetize put options and other bearish instruments. Trigger customers' stop-loss orders, and pick up bargains at their expense. Then cash-in again when the market pops up on bailout news.
To paraphrase Paul Erdman's 1975 tongue-in-cheek observation: "The lack of discretion in financial and political circles these days is appalling."
Meanwhile, take the heat off of yourself by leaking "fat finger" rumors to CNBC, since they can be relied up on to repeat as gospel any self-serving news you throw at them. Did someone type billions? It should have been millions. If we want to rescue the market from the Jaws of future disasters, we have to recognize that "this was no boating (or typing) accident." The system itself is flawed.
(See also: "How to Corner the Gold Market," TSF, March 30, 2010)
The NYSE was supposed to provide market liquidity. Trading safeguards are no good unless they are system-wide. The current and former heads of the NYSE, billed as the "best and the brightest," i.e., the most connected, should be asked a few questions about High Frequency Trading and "liquidity" providers. Our mega-bank trading desks that control most of the volume on the exchanges should be called in for an accounting and justification of their trading activities. Trading patterns during last week's debacle and over the last year should be examined.
Unfortunately, as others have observed before, the SEC is both largely incompetent and captured. They are learning to crawl in the space age. Moreover, the next stop for SEC officials seems to always be a highly paid influential job at a law firm, fund, or other entity that heavily relies on Wall Street for revenues. Financial reform requires radical overhaul of our "regulators."
As for Wall Street mega-bank reform, Congress seems disinclined to break up our Too-Big-To-Fail banks, define proprietary trading, or sever Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and proprietary trading at large banks from the Federal Reserve's, i.e., taxpayers' heavy subsidies. (See also: "Goldman Sachs: Spinning Gold," Huffington Post, April 7, 2010.)
If everyone wants to stick to the story of "woe is us, we had no idea things could go this wrong," then fine. No one is in control; no one is in charge; and no one can competently regulate our current system. This is a compelling argument for immediate radical financial reform.
Update May 11, 2010: The Wall Street Journal published an article suggesting that a trade by Universa crashed the market. Nassim Taleb, author of "The Black Swan," with a second edition just coming out today, advises the hedge fund.
The WSJ article misleads the public about an important event. This trade did not crash the market. The other side of Universa's trade would have been "delta hedged," meaning the futures contracts required to hedge the trade would have been meaningless to the market, or one could have bought offsetting puts or an options spread trade to hedge. This trade was immaterial to the events on Thursday. The transaction is immaterial and was not responsible for the market move.
The put options would expire worthless if the S&P were just above the strike in June. According to the WSJ article, the strike appears to be 800, but the article is a bit vague. Assuming the strike is 800, the contracts would only make some money at expiration if the S&P were below that, and the contracts would only make $4 billion if the S&P went to zero. Even on a high volatility day like last Thursday, Universa could have made money on the price of the put options, but even if it cashed out at the top of the market, it would only have made around $25 million after investing $7.5 million, and again, that is if Universa were lucky enough to sell at the highest level for the options for the day.
See also: "Nassim Taleb Kills $20 Billion Mythical Swan, WSJ Crashes Credibility, "Huffington Post, May 11, 2010.
Janet Tavakoli's book on the causes of the global financial meltdown and how to fix it is Dear Mr. Buffett: What an Investor Learns 1,269 Miles from Wall Street.
Sen. Ted Kaufman: Unusual Market Activity: the SEC and High Frequency Trading
It's too soon to know the myriad factors that played into last week's meltdown, though it appears to be quite likely that we witnessed a real-time example of high-tech trading run wild -- or, in some cases, unplugged.
Lee Schneider: Goldman-Sachs, Animal Welfare and the Broken Compass
Lots of potential investors want to steer clear of Goldman-Sachs. That's what I mean by a guidance system. There's a moral compass, and it always points north
The people need to "station" a group of constituents within each Congressional district in order to seek responses WEEKLY from their representative about WHAT they're DOING about reform. This bill has NOTHING about frontruning via HFT. The reform doesn't end on ONE BILL no matter what the Dems tell you. If they don't feel pressure after election, nothing will change. Our pressure must be consistent and ongoing.
I can't believe HFT PAY money to the exchange in order to put a server there, so they can read my bid and ask and market moves before anyone. This should be illegal. The exchanges are involved in this fraud. They're taking payment to give people lead-time. The media doesn't report it clearly, they hardly know the truth.
Tell me why an inquiry is needed for a maket drop but no such questions are asked for a "market melt-up" such as today's, much of which was pre-market where the retailer has limited access. Mostly instutions buy up the overnight futures ... again, doing the FED's dirty work. If we ever needed more evidence of who the FED's broker was, it is no coincidence that the market started going all nuts again when Goldman Sachs got called on to the carpet.
It is beyond obvious that banks manipulate the stock market, abuse client information, have free access to insider information.
But when the regulators are as corrupt as the criminal bankers there is no stopping the abuse.
When so many Senators are bought and paid for and have only one purpose of office, to do the will of their corporate owners, it should be no surprise that banksters and corporations get a liscence to steal and abuse the entire financial system.
We all know what needs to be done, what is fair and reasonable and prudent. But will politicians create then pass the neccessary laws? Certainly not. Criminal behaviour is now the norm, people have become so used to it that the banksters and politicians almost do it openly as there is no fear of being held accountable.
There is now a total lack of trust in the entire financial system and its regulators and the political system. It is taken as a given that banks will behave in a criminal manner and that the regulators and law enforcement will smile and do nothing, happy with bribe dolllars, advancement and membership of the club.
Of course the tactics employed by HFT are criminal, everybody knows it.
The US financial system has no more credibility than a game of monopoly and the USD is fast become no more credible than mononpoly money.
In his introduction to Ellen Brown's "Web Of Debt"
(www.WebOfDebt.com)
career banker & lifetime banking insider Reed Simpson writes of Ms. Brown's book confronting "The Money Power":
"Her book is a raised, clenched fist of defiance and truth smashing through their Finely Spun Web of DISINFORMATION, DISTORTION, DECEIT, and BOLDFACED LIES concerning money, banking, and economics."
(continuing) "It exposes the COVERT FINANCIAL ENEMY that has gotten inside our gates of Troy"
(i.e. "the FINANCIAL ENEMY that has gotten inside of our national banking, finance, and economic system, CRUSHING our systems of checks, balances, and restraints;
by the above mentioned "boldfaced lies" and DECEIT & deception, and by the overt and continuous BRIBERY and INTIMIDATION of our elected and appointed government, & press & media, officials.)
We have a recent example of this PURE DECEIT in action right here at HuffPost, Max Keiser linked to an article
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-keiser
that caught Billionaire so-called "liberal" (not!) Financier George Soros MORE THAN DOUBLING his position IN GOLD... at the same time that Mr. Soros was bad-mouthing gold as "the ultimate bubble" for 'news' consumption by peons & commoners....
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/davos/7085504/Davos-2010-George-Soros-warns-gold-is-now-the-ultimate-bubble.html
It is ONLY through RELENTLESS CORRUPTION and DECEIT - ENABLED by BOTH the Republican AND obama-pelosi "Democrat" parties - that the Big Money Trusts can get away with these serial MARKET & economy CRUSHING DECEITS
that some market participants thrive on complexity and intransparency and that there is little reason in the classical praise for markets why this should be to anybody's benefit - except to the benefit of those who thrive on complexity and intransparency.
Don't get me wrong. There's nothing at all objectionable with market participants thriving on complexity and intransparency in a GIVEN market environment NOT of their own making. But the whole thing starts to STINK when you start lobbying and manipulating markets so that they WILL be complex and intransparent.
And the first step in regulatory reform is as clear as the light of the day: call the bluff of these stinkers. There is no reason to keep on babbling this waffle why it's all just because all the critics are too dumb to see the financially sublime.
Spare me! I've had my share of the sublime. Let's just say: I know it when I see it. And I'm not seeing much of it in the lobbying efforts.
If anything, it's the art of turning rock bottom phoniness into a sublime of its own.
Sounds to me, like a pretty accurate description of Wall Street.
The Congress is bought and sold so when it comes to the wishes of the people they are inept. The rule of law is tossed, enough members are morally are bankrupt and ethics is a thing of the past.
It's going to take a strong group of people who find favor in one state to legally secede to get the ball rolling. It's the only message Congress may hear.
Outside of that we are stuck in an endless doom loop and "subjects" to the Big Corporations.
The whole system has been compromised. Goldman owns Obama and Congress and when former Goldman employee Kagan is put on the bench all three branches will have the whole thing sewn up and marching in goose step.
Texas is all talk, big hats no cattle, ................all the gold is in the Northern Rockies and were not bordering Mexico.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koNirBDDjhk
Vermont is possible, Minnesota and ND as well, stirrings in Iowa and in Michigan