Are the Feds buying options to support the market? (2015, union, purchase)

[hawkeye2009]

With the "rally" in the market of late, there are very unusual S&P 500 futures trades that are being executed in large volume with no apparent news at all that defy the "algorithm triggers" that usually intiate options purchases, based on oil and the VIX.

Now what the hell is going on? Are the Feds, in an attempt to save Obama's legacy, putting off the eventual decline?

[mathjak107]

they certainly wouldn't have markets where we stood 16 years ago if that was the case . on an inflation adjusted basis we barely moved.

like when oil was rising and folks were screaming price fixing .

if that is the case then the oil company's and the plunge team are the worst price fixers in history .

[J.Thomas]

Can they even do that

I mean is that legal??

[Lowexpectations]

Where are you seeing these trades? Where is it being reported if there isn't anything in the news?

[Lycanmaster]

There is a website run by a trader/investor who talks about this sort of thing:

pebblewriter | technical analysis, economics and occasional rants on financial markets

But, in a nutshell, the manipulation of the stock market has been going on for many months (since late last year).

And I don't think it has anything to do with protecting Obama's legacy lmao...

Here are my theories for why it is happening:

1) To prevent stock-market collapse
2) To prevent economic crash (related to point #1; see also Great Depression)
3) To prevent Donald from winning the Presidency. Points 1 and 2 above would almost guarantee this.

And I honestly believe point #3 is the biggest driver in all of this.

The elites in the media, finance, government, etc., are absolutely TERRIFIED of Donald Trump IMHO. Also true of Bernie Sanders; unfortunately, his chances of winning are remote at this point

[ContrarianEcon]

Originally Posted by J.Thomas

Can they even do that

I mean is that legal??

Secrets Of The Plunge Protection Team


yes it is legal. Ronald Reagan made it law.

[J.Thomas]

Originally Posted by ContrarianEcon

Secrets Of The Plunge Protection Team


yes it is legal. Ronald Reagan made it law.

I never thought PPT was government

Obviously "some" buyers were saving indexes in interesting times.

I remember couple of months ago stocks fell like 6% and intraday they saved it and day closed positive

I believe it was on a Monday

[ContrarianEcon]

Originally Posted by J.Thomas

I never thought PPT was government

The FED isn't government

Originally Posted by J.Thomas

Obviously "some" buyers were saving indexes in interesting times.

I remember couple of months ago stocks fell like 6% and intraday they saved it and day closed positive

I believe it was on a Monday

Hmm is correct.


hard to bet against the FED's printing press short term. Long term?

[ohio_peasant]

A complementary argument can be made from the opposite side: fundamentally, want went wrong, starting 30 December 2015? Nothing. And yet the market foreswore its almost perennial "Santa Claus Rally", and began instead a harrowing slide. Why? The "Manipulation" shout applies to the downside, just as much as to the upside.

Between Super Tuesday and the Syrian refugee crisis and whatnot, is anyone still paying attention to the latest unemployment numbers? February was another smashing month - despite winter doldrums and the usual post-Christmas layoff season. So why isn't the stock market thundering to new all-time highs? Why is nobody shrieking that nefarious string-pullers are jerking the market downward, preventing the S&P 500 from reaching a more natural position, say at 2500 or 2800?

I'm not saying that stocks are a screaming bargain. But I AM saying that if something is off-kilter, that if we have manipulation and dirty tricks and so forth, that we could make a credible case for a "crash incitement team", just as much as for a "plunge protection team".

[Lycanmaster]

Originally Posted by ohio_peasant

A complementary argument can be made from the opposite side: fundamentally, want went wrong, starting 30 December 2015? Nothing. And yet the market foreswore its almost perennial "Santa Claus Rally", and began instead a harrowing slide. Why? The "Manipulation" shout applies to the downside, just as much as to the upside.

Between Super Tuesday and the Syrian refugee crisis and whatnot, is anyone still paying attention to the latest unemployment numbers? February was another smashing month - despite winter doldrums and the usual post-Christmas layoff season. So why isn't the stock market thundering to new all-time highs? Why is nobody shrieking that nefarious string-pullers are jerking the market downward, preventing the S&P 500 from reaching a more natural position, say at 2500 or 2800?

I'm not saying that stocks are a screaming bargain. But I AM saying that if something is off-kilter, that if we have manipulation and dirty tricks and so forth, that we could make a credible case for a "crash incitement team", just as much as for a "plunge protection team".

The only problem is that people don't believe those reports...

Angry Americans: How the 2008 Crash Fueled a Political Rebellion - Bloomberg Politics

The one story about the U.S. economy that has virtually no traction among American voters right now is that it’s doing OK.
...
Anyone inclined to tell that story, as President Barack Obama did in his final State of the Union address in January, can find headline data to back it up. But primary-season revolts -- the Donald Trump mutiny against the Republican establishment, and the fiercer-than-expected challenge from Bernie Sanders against a Democratic frontrunner with all the advantages -- are driven by fed-up Americans saying it isn’t so...

And why would the financial/corporate/govt elites want to crash the market? Probably most of there wealth comes from it!!!