Big day today. The computers have officially taken over with the various algorithms which account for 70% of all trades. Some computer glitch almost destroyed financial markets today. This has got to stop. Bring back people and ban all high frequency trading and computer trading.
Overall today was a good day for me. I was short crude oil, short AUD/JPY, and long OI puts. However the insane market movement almost gave me a heart attack. I saw volatility which I have never seen before (not even 2008). I watched AUD/JPY fall 700 pips in a matter of minutes. Liquidity vanished in all markets at the same time. I got screwed when I tried to sell my puts (for a nice profit) but the spread was BID $6/ASK $11!!! This is egregious and shows you how precarious liquidity is in this market. My trading platform broke down and I was forced to call the trading desk to close out my short positions. I think this will be a buying opportunity but not quite yet.
Retail investors are going to officially abandon this market after all of this CRAP!! Watching stocks like Procter fall from $61 to 35 in 10 minutes is unheard of. This should not be possible. The system is rigged against you because these computer programs can trade in milliseconds. I believe that tomorrow's NFP's will be positive and give the market a slight boost but I expect more selling next week. The only good thing about today was GOLD!! Gold is now being offically recongized as a currency and starting to trade like one.
Good luck trading,
Black Swan Insights
Ps. Sorry for not posting lately--my dog came down with a nasty disease which temporarily paralyzed him and so I have spent the last two weeks caring for him. Thanks
