Arthur Cashin of UBS Paine Webber just came on CNBC and said, "The new breed of day traders are effecting this market!"
lol, what the heck is that supposed to mean ? Useless comments like that are why I don't watch CNBC anymore.
was it a disparaging remark? Nobody is more clever than a wall street salesman at making excuses (and believing them). Look at all the practice they get! It's sad, really.
I think Cashin is blowing smoke with this comment...From what I can see, there are more buy/sell programs now than ever before and that has dramatically altered the trading landscape...Markets have become hostage to these massive institutional programs like never before and run straight up and down as a result...Maybe, the popularity of hedge funds, has to some extent, changed the mechanics of this market...After all, this market has now become a "fade" market...The bottoms are bought and the relative tops are sold, the "in between" has become the quicksand, loaded with programs and mini squeezes that pop up out of nowhere...
Yeah, I know some traders that momentum trade stocks like NVDA for large size (5000-20000 shares) using ECNs. Traders like them are greatly responsible for big swings and added volatility in those kinds of stocks.
Cashin was reffering to small hedge funds employing short term momentum similar to the "retail" daytraders of the late '90's. There are many small shops that have sprung up in the past year or so comprised of former sell side traders etc that have access to professional leverage. Cashin has made specific reference to these "mini hedge funds" as large traders in ETS such as QQQ/DIA/SPY/SMH/OIH.......... trading large size for quick scalps.