Market manipulation theory
What if you took $200 million, and waited till around 12:30p.m. each day for the volume to dry up in the S&P emini. Knowing that around $200 million worth of trades per hour are placed on a normal day during this time, or $3.3 million per minute, you start buying consistently, waiting for the natural market forces to help you lift the market. As it lifts it triggers the occasional buy program in stocks, and causes sales in the futures. You absorb these sales and push it higher, causing a little more help from the other participants. You then start getting short positions to close that help you drive the market up farther, causing a mini rally. As it rallies you sell and sell and eventually kill the rally, unloading the last of your inventory with an average price a few points above where you began, but pocketing a few points times say 15,000 eminiâs or a profit of $2,250,000 on $30 million of margin.
Barring someone taking the opportunity to unload a massive position against you, it would seem this would be a viable strategy on certain days for someone with a few bucks.