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Re: With Firestorm Nearing, Traders Stand Their Ground

By: capt_nemo in ROUND | Recommend this post (0)
Thu, 22 Sep 11 6:48 AM | 48 view(s)
Boardmark this board | De's Test Board 		Msg. 35006 of 45651
(This msg. is a reply to 35003 by Decomposed)
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"more specifically, by algorithm-driven machines with nothing on their tiny digital brains but a bunch of zeroes and ones."

And lets not forget that 1/2 cent rebate the algos get for every share traded. Doesn't matter if a stock goes up or down Robobrains don't care. They are in it for thaqt half cent rebate. They do that 100 of 1000's times a second, That adds up pretty quick, OH YEAH,,,,,,,,,,, they provide liquidity. Silly me for forgetting.........That is ALL this market is about anymore, Its a game of who can program their computer the best and fastest, Period........They don't care if anything makes money or loses money for fellow traders, They care not,,,,,,,,,,,,,




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Realist - Everybody in America is soft, and hates conflict. The cure for this, both in politics and social life, is the same -- hardihood. Give them raw truth.




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The above is a reply to the following message:
With Firestorm Nearing, Traders Stand Their Ground
By: Decomposed in ROUND
Thu, 22 Sep 11 6:17 AM 		Msg. 35003 of 45651

With Firestorm Nearing, Traders Stand Their Ground

By: Rick Ackerman, Rick's Picks

Posted Wednesday, 21 September 2011

Ahhh, it’s those old Greek worries again! Yesterday they were blamed for undoing a nearly 150-point rally in the Dow, although the question of what had caused the rally to begin with seemed of little concern. We’ll proffer the usual, technical explanation: Yesterday’s ups and downs were driven entirely by mechanical factors – more specifically, by algorithm-driven machines with nothing on their tiny digital brains but a bunch of zeroes and ones. And if they had a smattering of human help, the humans were wont to apply the same tried-and-true tactic that has carried the day for the hedgies time and again in recent months – i.e., letting the index futures fall on thin volume, exhausting sellers overnight; then, goosing said futures into a short-squeeze panic ahead of the opening bell.

Would that Greece were driven by algorithms and polymath dervishes! Granted, this wicked combination could send millions of Greeks into manic-depressive spasms and suicidal lows. But, oh, just think about those highs — just like the ones we thrill to nearly every week on Wall Street, where even the glowering menace of a Second Great Depression evidently cannot kill the insensate ardor of buyers. So, if 300-point Dow rallies are still possible, why hasn’t the same kind of exuberance seized the proletarian mind in Athens? The answer, of course, is that Greece’s ups and downs are driven, not by “technical factors,” but by the grim realities of a failing economy. Greek businesses cannot get bank loans to tide things over while their customers try to scrounge enough cash to redeem their IOUs. This has set the economy on a downward spiral from which no exit is possible. In the meantime, a Europe desperate to save the euro and a political union that has been dreamt about for a hundred years, has imposed on Greece a regimen of austerity that can only hasten the nation’s psychological exhaustion and eventual default.

Belly Up for Greece

Has this outcome been factored into “the markets”? Yes and no. While it would appear that nearly “everyone” expects Greece to go belly-up, and soon, no one can predict whether this will generate the tsunami that takes Italy and Spain (and France?) with it. For their part, traders seem to have taken the Zen attitude that we shouldn’t worry too much about things we cannot change. And although only a handful of bureaucrats in Belgium and a few ivory-tower eggheads would maintain that Greece is not about to go down, we’ll have to wait and see whether The System survives the shock. No question that the markets have been extremely volatile, reflecting the nervousness of traders and speculators still in the market. But if these bold players were to reflect for more than a haphazard moment on what is likely, let alone possible, the Dow would be trading 5000 points lower in a trice.

***

http://news.goldseek.com/RickAckerman/1316584920.php

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