The people who sold then are better off right now than the people who are still holding so you could say they are slightly smarter. However i think everyone who uses the buy and hold strategy without being able to identify yearly trends are idiots. That would most likely include 99% of the mutual fund industry.
Half a trillion in only 2 hours? That's way too fast to be your neighbors and friends running away. It's also in the middle of the work day, how could it be so concentrated? This looks like a classic attempt at an engineered run on a bank, they've been done a few times before. Next step is buying up assets on the cheap.. Looking at time zones, it looks like it's afternoon, it would be 4 pm in London, 5 in Germany. and it's early sleeping time in Asia.