Quote from jfilla:
Mercor,
It wasnt a buy stop, it was a limit order I had under the market after it had moved to around 17685 or so. I was looking for a retracement back into the 75 before a secondary push to the 100's. Obviously, it never retraced.
There were probably 40-50 prints after 17720 or so. So, from 17720 to 18071, you didnt have many chances to breathe. Im sure any buy stops got executed, and if they were buy markets the slippage was probably in the 30pt range or so. The move Sunday you referenced was similiar.
I dont think its quants, I think its just a thin market the last few weeks. Even late into last month, there was good volume buying and selling. The market could absorb 200 lots with very little movement. Now, seems like mostly just retail and small desks running stops back and forth, so when a large order does come in, it moves the market big time.
It could be a lot of things, HF's taking the summer off, indecision from buyers and sellers on what the next move is, who the hell knows.
FYI, there were about 2000 contracts traded in that 15 seconds, which when you consider each of those bars has an average of 400-500 contracts, isnt really that excessive. Plus, most of that volume was on the way back down, as there was heavy selling once it topped out.