funny this is one of the comments on that webpage. there is "No market"
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"It's slow today, so I'll add to your comment. I've repeated this story over the last 6 months from time to time, and I'll do so again here. Back in June 2009, a colleague of ours (a $5+ Billion dollar hedge fund) traveled to Europe on a meet-n-greet, money raising campaign. At the time, he returned and said "there is 50% LESS MONEY out there to invest." I presumed his observation was due to lost investments, the meltdown, margin calls, etc.. Then, a month later (keep in mind they are large) he told us, "...there is no market..." I said, what do you mean there is "no market?" He literally said, there is no market. What he meant was, they could not find market participants to take the other side of their trades -- literally. Bid/Ask spreads were huge, and there was no liquidity anymore for them initiate trades as theyâve done in the past (or, much less).
Since then (the last 4-6 months) all of us, have now discovered, exactly what he was talking about. There is NO MARKET (period). Volume is gone. Government, computers, quants, algos, HFT's -- whatever you want to label them â now are said to dominate 70% of all volume today. Thus, keep in mind too, that they dominate 70% of "today's volume" (which on the above premise, is 50% LESS than the real volume the market traded before the credit crisis).
So, think about all this. One, there is 50% less real volume. 70% of the existing (50%) volume is computer led. Thus leaving, theoretically, only 15% of the actual volume in today's markets being "true or real volume" (when compared to volume prior to the crisis). Only 15%. So... now we see the problem with the market's today. This is a huge structural shift (and problem). We don't see it getting better in the short-term. Interesting dilemma. Good luck everyone...":eek:
