Is it just me who thinks this report is total bullshit??
http://counterpunch.org/martens10042010.html
"âDetailed analysis of trade and order data revealed that one large internalizer (as a seller) and one large market maker (as a buyer) were party to over 50 per cent of the share volume of broken trades, and for more than half of this volume they were counterparties to each other (i.e., 25 per cent of the broken trade share volume was between this particular seller and buyer).â "
They never named these 2 entities.
Also, HFT:
"And many firms will generate 90 or more orders for each executed trade. Stated another way: a firm that trades one million times per day may submit 90 million or more orders that are cancelled.â
One week before May 6th there was a "trial run" when for a few minutes the same thing happened...
Not to mention blaming the Kansas mutual fund is total BS:
" In other words, the government investigators are suggesting that a trade that represented 1 per cent of the dayâs volume in a futures contract in Chicago and less than 5 per cent of contracts traded in the pivotal 1 to 2 p.m. time frame in Chicago (2 to 3 p.m. in New York) caused stocks in the cash market to plunge to a penny."
Not to mention looking at seconds data is worthless when you should look at miliseconds:
"Mr. Hunsader said that he believed the report to be
âriddled with inconsistencies, makes conclusions without supporting evidence, and wastes precious time on illustrations that end up telling us nothing we didn't already know. Looking for the cause of the xFlash Crash using one-minute snapshot data is like trying to find the Higgs boson with a 10x microscope.â Mr. Hunsader goes on to note the âNYSE's admission of the delay we discovered in June; however, the executive summary tells us regarding this delay: âOur findings indicate that none of these factors played a dominant role on May 6.â"