A 21.5 cent move in front RB is like the BREXIT move on the ES. In ACD terms, that move in the ES went from the QAUp all the way to the QADn in a matter of hours. This one in RB peeked past the QAUp but was about 5-6 cents short of the QADn when it started. So in that sense it was slightly smaller than the BREXIT move.
In terms of dollars, the move in the ES was about 120 points which would be a $6000/contract move. The RB move is a $9000/contract move from the last settle to the high and this move was made in under 2 minutes while the ES move took 7 hours.
The move in spreads is much bigger in magnitude like Mav said because of in terms of the ATR, its almost 15-20 times the ATR. Think about it this way, if you are spec trading this instrument with the biggest set of brass ones, you do not have the capacity of even a 5 ATR stop. I promise you, anyone spec short the RB front spread is shitting all over right now because we are still hanging around +750 after having settled around parity. Plus, this time, the pipeline issue is far severe than it was 2 months ago when we had a similar spike. Back in Sep, the pipeline issue gradually developed over a day or so and the front rallied about 6-7 cents over 4 days. Today's move was an almost 10 cent move in a matter of a couple of minutes.
Also the move happened when there was absolutely NO liquidity so if you were a big swinger there were no size offers to lift. When moves like this happen this screen gets very very quiet.