Sense on Cents

While the market is working to digest the better than expected Unemployment Report this morning, put the pom-poms away please. No, I am not negative on the report, I am calling bulls%*# on a crony capitalist system that allows for so-called market exchanges to develop and function as they did yesterday.

Fat finger (meaning a trade size was incorrectly entered)? I do not buy it. I think yesterday was nothing more than so-called liquidity providers engaging in high frequency trading, and taking investors to the hoop in a HUGE way. How so?

As sell orders built, the liquidity, which high frequency traders pretend they provide on the upside (it’s called front running, boys and girls) evaporated as the HFT literally turned off their machines. What happened as a result? The market plunged and trades were executed on selected stocks at some exceptionally low prices. How would you like to be the investor that got filled on a sale of Procter and Gamble below $40 on the gap down and then saw the stock whip right back to close above $60.

Is that trading? Is that investing? Is that a credible marketplace? No, that is a rigged game in which those who control the process are taking advantage of their physical and financial positions. Who are these entities?

1. The exchanges themselves which have cut deals with the large high frequency trading entities to capture volume.

2. The high frequency trading entities run by the large banks and assorted dealers.

3. The regulators in Washington which have curried favor with the industry and allowed this marketplace to develop. Are these regulators protecting investors? Anything but. The regulators have shown themselves to be in bed engaged in incest with the industry. That smells!!

Yesterday was crony capitalism at its best!! The market structures are BROKEN!!

Count me out.

LD

This entry was posted on Friday, May 7th, 2010 at 9:27 AM and is filed under General, markets. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.