I saw the IB Bulletin that there was a spike in the ES market and they were cancelling trades b/w a certain time period. I <fortunately> didn't have any trades on or pending during this time period, but if i understand an electronic market correctly... why would this spike cause trades to be cancelled. Orders are held on an "electronic book, shouldn't a "spike" just take out these orders on the way up? If they were limit orders they should either be filled at limit price or better, OR the user should be told that the market moved too fast and they're not filled (and therefore still pending). What are the circumstances surrouding the orders getting cancelled (i didn't read the bulletin too closely, but it appears that the official word to cancel trades came about 2 hours after the time frame in question). Is this the case, or did i read the bulletin wrong?
Another example of the lack of effective arbing in the CME emini. The tick size should be reduced to .10 and the arbing between the emini and the pit should be done by CME computer spitting out orders to the pit.
There is VERY thin volume in the march contract since most people are trading the May contract. Its not that hard to manipulate, although it was probably done by mistake. I must congrat the CME for taking swift action like they did a couple of months ago when someone had an itchy finger.
Saw the glitch and my first inclination was that Saddam had surrendered or something. The ES March was hitting absurdly high numbers like 900+ on thin volume. Didn't even try to click the bid or ask as I had no idea what was going on. After seeing that no news or indices was confirming I figured it was a glitch and that any trades would be busted anyways.
Is there a way i could pull up the old bulletin? Like i said, i didn't read it too closely, and i thought it was for ALL ES contracts, not just the March. I am indeed monitoring the June contract (i think that's what you meant, NOT the MAY contract), which it sounds like you are saying, was uneffected. I could understand if there was some sort of glitch as you are reporting, and agree that the trades should therefore be cancelled, but i thought the bulletin referred to the "jump" that occurred in the "spike" in the ES June contract (which brought it to a high of 857 from a low of about 840 or so). Thanks for the clarification, and if somebody could direct me to seeing the old bulletin it would be appreciated. Thanks.
sorry guys.. have been flustered by not taking full advantage of a day like this. Thank you for correcting me. I meant the JUNE contract.
Found the bulletin link, and answered my question. Thanks for the direction to it, and for everyone else's replies!