why do you assume it's a conspiracy theory? you say you know nothing about it, yet you know enough to call it a conspiracy theory??? assumption is the mother of all fuck-ups. the markets change over time - this is nothing new. the PPT is a response to new entities in the markets, specifically programs; the PPT makes things more stable. run along now.
My only assumption was that ET was a place for open exchange of ideas and opinions. I did not know it was frowned upon to ask relevant questions to the thread. My mistake.....
krazykarl, I don't mean to sound like your mom but, up 'til now, you've been a reasonable bull voice on the forums - one of the good guys. Your last couple of replies on this thread are out of character for you and not in a good way. Further, regarding the "PPT", yes, there are some contingency plans in place for selloffs, not the least of which is exchange "circuit breakers" limiting various types of trading at different loss levels. I don't think that sort of thing is either negative or the result of some fiendish plot by the Bilderburgs or whoever.
deepfried - i appreciate your comment and i will agree that i did not want to come off as a dick. one of my pet peves is when people ask for information on something when it is obvious they have not put any time in. i despise laziness. how do i know he did not search? because as recently as 6 months ago there were lengthy discussion on the subject. even if you google 'plunge protection team' you get a breadth of information. Also, another reason I knew he did not put any time in was his assumption that the PPT is a "conspiracy". It's a well-known fact among active traders with moderate experience that the PPT exists - no surprise. Some additional time and it people realize it makes sense to have that mechanism there.
oh, and that " " was meant to make my inital post good natured. i am a pretty easy going guy after all.....you have to be after loosing over 130k in 6 months.
The one thing that sticks with me is that the market internals are not good at all. Wal Mart, Cisco and Intel leading a huge really doesn't seem like a possibility to me. The lack of growth is being discounted in small-caps now, big time. Writing is on the wall IMHO.
what "internals" are not good from your perspecitve? P/Es are historically low, so much so in fact the world thinks the US markets are undervalued...
Do you think PE's really matter? Did people not buy the tech stocks with 500 multiples at a quarter of their eventual peaks? Surely they didn't buy AMR at a negative mutiple. And homebuliders are a BARGAIN now (like TOA) trading at a 2.2x earnings. Are you kidding me? I'm talking about the internals of the market. The sector leadership. There is none. Small-caps have fallen off a cliff and haven't recovered since May. The leaders of the last bull market (i.e. TIE, HANS, ATI, JOYG, BTU to name a few) are struggling to recover. Looks like its gonna get ugly. We need rates back at 2% for these stocks to roll again. We may get there.