Quote from Trader KGB:
Attached is a chart of USD/JPY directly after the 4pm equity close today. This is what concerns me that I mentioned in my first post.
The other carry pairs fell in concert as well after being down heavily all day, but USD/JPY had been holding its own for most of the day, up 14 ticks at the 4pm close (reflective of the USD rally).
The very second the US equity markets closed, a significant market participant(s) unwound a very substantial amount of carry trades. They could have done this all day long and not moved the market as much (after all, european and asian traders are long since gone at 4pm). What was their motive for intently waiting until after the 4pm close to drop the market?
This could just be a fluke, but the tin foil hat in me says this is a red herring. I didn't have my ES chart open at the time, does anyone know how it did after the close?