Ya know when I write these things, I laugh out loud to myself and crunch odds in my head as to how long it will take you to comment.
I have been a trader for a long time. And even in the most irrational markets you can find a kernel of reason behind why people are doing irrational things. But the run up on Friday afternoon leaves me baffled. The SP futures got into the low 50’s a few times and then despite being 130 handles off the globex lows they run it up to 4380 on the close. Who wanted to be long over a weekend after a 2 day 300 pt 8% rally with a nuclear war beckoning. I cannot figure out who that trader is.
I just don't ever see an 80% or greater bet. The chance of Russian withdrawal was always there, and even if the market already went up heavily the past 2 days, this sort of news would push it up even higher. Someone else said just a while ago that they don't take 50/50 bets, and I think going into every weekend is like this.
I would guess it was mostly short covering. The earlier stages of buying was shorts taking profits (or unwinding profitable hedges). The later stages of the rally the were panicked shorts (who shorted late) buying back at breakeven or buying back because they were getting stopped out for a loss.
Wrong, we will never accept such a Russian threat. If Putin starts a nuclear war, in less than one day all big Russians cities will be wiped out. And it will be game over and out for Putin. He will be the Russian who destroyed his own country; just the opposite of what he is dreaming of. That would be a nightmare for Putin. He got traumatized when the USSR crashed and the "Russian Empire" got decimized. Going nuclear would result in Putin doing exactly the same: decimizing Russia. Or even worse:wiping out Russia completelly. Nobody can afford to lose any time if attacked by nuclear bombs. The best defense is the attack. If not you get maybe no chance anymore to do anything at all. So if these bombs come the only option is to retaliate immediately and massively.
The BBC is running more scary stories about Putins nuclear options: "Putin's in a tight spot," believes Moscow-based defence analyst Pavel Felgenhauer. "He doesn't have many options left, once the West freezes the assets of the Russian Central bank and Russia's financial system actually implodes. That will make the system unworkable. "One option for him is to cut gas supplies to Europe, hoping that will make the Europeans climb down. Another option is to explode a nuclear weapon somewhere over the North Sea between Britain and Denmark and see what happens." If Vladimir Putin did choose a nuclear option, would anyone in his close circle try to dissuade him? Or stop him? "Russia's political elites are never with the people," says Nobel laureate Dmitry Muratov. "They always take the side of the ruler." And in Vladimir Putin's Russia the ruler is all-powerful. This is a country with few checks and balances; it's the Kremlin that calls the shots. "No one is ready to stand up to Putin," says Pavel Felgenhauer. "We're in a dangerous spot. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60551140
I read today the first rumors that Europa will activate their nuclear bombs too. They say it is the only option we have. That confirms what I posted earlier: at the first sign of a nuclear bomb being launched we should imediatelly launch ours and as masively as possible. How fast that action will be taken will decide who will be destroyed and who will survive. At that moment there is no time anymore to negociate.
The Russians have over 500 submarine based nukes. A quick attack isn't going to work unless you take out all the subs at the same time. Plus they have lots of mobile launchers: