I hear this expression all the time but, I was wondering who could one really pinpoint to as; The big players in the market on a daily basis? Who are these Institutional, and Independent Traders, or Hedge Funds. That really "move the market", if that is indeed possible. Can any group truly control or manipulate the market? Isn't the market bigger than all of us even though we are the market? I would be interested in everyone's insight and or perspective.
The "Big Boys" is a loose term that is used to describe the group of people who deal in huge amounts in the S&P. Hedge funds, Index Funds, Retirement Funds, Arbitrage Operations may buy/sell the S&P for reasons like hedging, arbing, indexing etc. When news comes, this group will take similar actions simultaneously, causing the phenomenon known as "moving the markets". Eg. when bad news come these guys will sell (maybe not the arb guys). Of course there is always trader number 990.
Is it possible to take on a position of 1000 or more contracts in the S&P at one time? Obvisouly for the off the floor trader, or the"regular guy" it's unlikely but, I wonder who does?.... There's inifinite potential for gains or losses in the market...It's what makes the market so wonderful!..
Big fellas , these guys are buying at he bottom of a bear market sniffing out bargains while the news is still terrible and the rest of the holders are losing patience with their holdings. These same guys are selling the top of the bull market while speculators are entering - the news is usually very bullish yet. They are usually ahead of the rest of the speculative crowd.
If you talking about the SP (the big contract), then only a few index or statistical arb funds or prop desks I know of would take 1000 SP contract positions. But if you are talking about the e-mini, 1000 ES contract is only 200 contracts of SP, quite a few individual traders have known to take positions of this level or above, naturally 1000 contract trade would push the market a little (usually 1 tick). I trade the ES and SP (among quite a few other contracts) as a Merc member.
Not necessarily, the group doesn't necessarily all behave in the same direction. I have seen two or more "big" guys (or blackboxes) go at it, each throwing 1000+ contract orders in opposite directions, interesting to watch. Since I run a purely automated system, I have plenty of time to watch. Also, this group may or may not be ahead of the speculative crowd, there are usually quite a bit of flow of small orders (1-50 contracts). In a normal day, the speculative crowd is still a substantial portion of the flow.
Hmm..that's interesting. Those are some definite big players...Some say the market is engineered from within and I believe this to be true more than ever now....There are guys who know how to buy the low and sell the high everyday....and That doesn't mean the market is rigged.
Thats why so many are drawn to the markets. Its like a casino with no table limits. Smack US$100,000 down on the table and pick Long or Short, then pray hard. Either you lose that 100 grand or make millions. Where else do you find that kind of deal?
LOL....True, but in a casino the risk is artificially created for the sake of risk.....the market risk of supply and demand are real and cannot be manipulated to "beat the public"...at least that's my opinion.