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These Are Not The VWAP Reversion Algorithms You Are Looking For

Tyler Durden's picture




I am broadcasting on all IP frequencies. I will be at 85 Broad everyday at midday, when the sun is highest in the sky. If you
are out there—if anyone is out there—I can provide charts, I can provide
data, I can provide flagrant breaches of market integrity. If there's anybody out there in the SEC's enforcement division—anybody—please, you are not alone.




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Tue, 08/04/2009 - 14:21 | Link to Comment capitalisa
capitalisa's picture

Are you serious?

Tue, 08/04/2009 - 14:46 | Link to Comment Will Profit
Will Profit's picture

Durden took his hand off the mouse, and raised his head only to find himself staring into what could only be desribed as the eyes of Hell. He quickly regained his composure and said, "High noon Goldfein. Out front of Miss Kittys saloon Don't make me come getcha.""

Hight Noon as sung by Don Vito Blankfein:

Do not expose me, oh, you bloggers,
On this, Goldmans most profitable year.
Do not forsake me, oh, digital dickweed,
Wait; wait SEC.
I do not know what bonus awaits me.
I only know I am very rich.
For I must fleece traders who hate me,
Or lie a middle class, a craven coward;
Or lie a rotting in my grave.

Tue, 08/04/2009 - 16:34 | Link to Comment VegasBD
VegasBD's picture

I hate NY, but Id take a vaca there if you actually put a call out to spark the revolution.

 

Ill bring beer.

 

 

Tue, 08/04/2009 - 14:22 | Link to Comment Pizza Delivery Man
Pizza Delivery Man's picture

I Am Legend. Nice...

Tue, 08/04/2009 - 21:30 | Link to Comment MinnesotaNice
MinnesotaNice's picture

So Goldman is the plague virus... we are the mutant plague victims... the SEC perished with the all the others... then Tyler that means you better bring the antidote.

Tue, 08/04/2009 - 14:25 | Link to Comment Alexander Supertramp
Alexander Supertramp's picture

Keep calling, someone will answer.  

Tue, 08/04/2009 - 14:36 | Link to Comment D.O.D.
D.O.D.'s picture

muwahahahahahha LOL!!!!

Tyler U R D Best Man!

But what isn't funny is the bounce USO gets off the sell off

Tue, 08/04/2009 - 14:28 | Link to Comment Sancho Ponzi
Sancho Ponzi's picture

Tyler:

This is Joe from GS. How would you like to come to work for us for, let's say, 10 mil/year? Deal?

Tue, 08/04/2009 - 14:52 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 15:21 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 15:28 | Link to Comment Assetman
Assetman's picture

Tyler:

Ken from Bank of America here.

No, not THAT Ken.. Ken Lewis. 

Yes, I'm still the CEO.

Anyway, we were expecting to pay double the $33mm amount to the SEC for the unfortunate misunderstanding between me and Hank and Benny. 

How about you coming over to the dark side to BofA-Merill and share in the fruits of our enhanced bonus pool?.  We'll even give you a nice office overlooking 50 Broad (we know you like keeping an eye on these ba$tard$).

Tue, 08/04/2009 - 16:07 | Link to Comment economessed
economessed's picture

Tyler,

This is Hu Jintao from the Peoples Republic of China.  I watch you blog for long time.  You know those offers are fakes (like Rolex watch you look at in Tianjin alley market).

If you want to make real money, you come see me.  American market not need interference from outsiders like you.  We have lovely office for you and good seat at Hong Kong race track.

Hu

Tue, 08/04/2009 - 16:31 | Link to Comment VegasBD
VegasBD's picture

haaaaaaaaaaa! You win!

Tue, 08/04/2009 - 16:42 | Link to Comment joann
joann's picture

Tyler: This is Goldfellas ... come to the darkside we have cookies.

Tue, 08/04/2009 - 14:33 | Link to Comment jimbo
jimbo's picture

I am woman, hear me roar
In numbers too big to ignore
And I know too much to go back an' pretend
'cause I've heard it all before
And I've been down there on the floor
No one's ever gonna keep me down again

CHORUS
Oh yes I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to, I can do anything
I am strong (strong)
I am invincible (invincible)
I am woman

You can bend but never break me
'cause it only serves to make me
More determined to achieve my final goal
And I come back even stronger
Not a novice any longer
'cause you've deepened the conviction in my soul

Tue, 08/04/2009 - 14:35 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 14:41 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 15:07 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 14:42 | Link to Comment Sqworl
Sqworl's picture

Calling Harry Markopolous, please pick up...

Tue, 08/04/2009 - 14:45 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 14:45 | Link to Comment buzzsaw99
buzzsaw99's picture

The SEC? Thanx 4 teh funny!

Tue, 08/04/2009 - 14:45 | Link to Comment Cindy_Dies_In_T...
Cindy_Dies_In_The_End's picture

Ah come on Tyler, the SEC is the Beotch of the 2 Big 2 Fail. And after all, the big banks are keeping the Economics of Mass Destruction from occurring, don't ya know, so te SEC will do nothing.

 

Does ANYBODY in the SEC have the moral and intellectual courage to talk to TD and DO SOMETHING TO STOP THIS CRAP.

Hmm.

 

Ps- I got some oil fields in Iraq to sell ya. ;)

 

 

Tue, 08/04/2009 - 14:46 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 14:47 | Link to Comment kilroy
kilroy's picture

That was the funniest thing I've read in a LONG time.

Tue, 08/04/2009 - 14:47 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 14:54 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 15:03 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 15:04 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 15:19 | Link to Comment BorisTheBlade
BorisTheBlade's picture

'cause very few own either or both, why the rest should give a fuck if for them it's a sideline issue?

 

Tue, 08/04/2009 - 15:19 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 14:52 | Link to Comment insite
insite's picture

anyone know where us non bb'ers can get the major indices w/ vwap overlay intraday?  might as well take advantage of this!

Tue, 08/04/2009 - 14:52 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 14:54 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 14:56 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 15:11 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 15:29 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 14:58 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 15:05 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 15:05 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 15:07 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 15:13 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 15:15 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 15:18 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 15:32 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 15:32 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 15:36 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 16:31 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 16:37 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 18:28 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Wed, 08/05/2009 - 01:40 | Link to Comment Assetman
Assetman's picture

Nice to see an honest challenging comment.  While I can't provide the mathematics behind this, I can give you a layman's explanation since I do a ton of VWAP trading for buyside accounts.  Here's what I see...

There have been a boatload of days like the one we've seen today.. not much underlying tick volume but lots of movement around the VWAP.  And down days on average have been on higher volume, and conversely, harder to move the needle on.

So lets take a low volume day and pretend you have a VWAP buy order for the end of day.  If you are committed VWAP buyer and few others are playing on the other side (again, due to lack of underlying volume), an "astute" broker with program trading ability can actively "push up" the VWAP during the day by "front running" a typical VWAP algorithm, i.e., getting more aggressive on the revision BEFORE a broker developed VWAP program kicks into gear for more volume buying.

There are 2 importantant things to remember about buyisde intitated VWAP trades: (1) most buy side traders use broker issued VWAP algos; and (2) VWAP is a moving target throughout the day.  A rapidly rising VWAP is a killer for a buyer on a low volume day,  because the opportunities are few and far between to really pick up shares on the reversion.  When a predatory trading program gooses the reversion, it also gooses the VWAP trend.  The less volume, the more perverse.

On low volume days, it really doesn't take much to move the needle, But there are times that "gunning" requires higher program trade volumes (think near the end of close).  In those cases, many VWAP trades are filling in orders despite the spike above VWAP because the order is required to be filled.  I've been stuck on the wrong side of those once or twice, and it wasn't very fun at all.

In most cases these days, I'm getting very aggressive on buy orders in the morning and leaving off the VWAP algo altogether... if the underlying volume will alllow for it.  If not, I'm buying aggressive early, and running a VWAP until an hour before market close (no need to feed the beast).  In most cases, we're buying on negative events when the volume is bid is heavy anyway.  Sell orders are certainly easier to VWAP, but many of these days, it's just easier to wait until the last hour and wait for the volume spike.  if it doesn't happen today, it will happen the next day.

In issues such as the SPY, there clearly are weird spikes in very large volumes that require intense scrutiny.  While I don't see enough evidence to prove any abuses by any one HFT party, we know that very few can pull off some of these trades in a very short period of time.  So while I woudn't go so far as say there is manipulation going on, I don't dare get involved in trading around these issues.  It's a losers game. 

 

Tue, 08/04/2009 - 15:48 | Link to Comment droctakan
droctakan's picture

Does this happen in just the spys or in individual issues too?  No access to a bloomberg sadly.

 

Also, can you run the reasoning by us again?  Is it brokers guaranteeing VWAP execution?  Or is it all the computers closing out for the day?

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 01:52 | Link to Comment Assetman
Assetman's picture

It happens in both ETFs and individual issues.  A lot of the end of day games going on are in the major ETFs, and most of the games of the VWAP reversion variety are in individual names that have fallen in trading volume and then get heatmapped.

Essentially, most brokers will not "guarantee" a VWAP price, unless they can somehow profit from it.  One major Wall Street broker we fired recently allowed us to use their VWAP alogrithm, but reserved the right to claim any profits above VWAP if there was a gain from execution.  However, they did not bother to claim reponsibility for VWAP losses.  That being said there are many brokers that there that do a good job and have VWAP algos that get you real close, plus or minus. And you can keep the gains on the plus days. 

Tue, 08/04/2009 - 15:56 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 15:57 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 16:03 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 16:20 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 16:26 | Link to Comment vicelord
vicelord's picture

Tue, 08/04/2009 - 16:28 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 16:31 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 16:36 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 17:35 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 17:56 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 19:40 | Link to Comment D.O.D.
D.O.D.'s picture

As I read these comments I think I'm a little clearer on this... ok, great post!

Tue, 08/04/2009 - 20:57 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 21:55 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 22:14 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 22:32 | Link to Comment D.O.D.
D.O.D.'s picture

yes quite clear indeed...

Tue, 08/04/2009 - 22:36 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Wed, 08/05/2009 - 00:00 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Wed, 08/05/2009 - 19:36 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 22:53 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 23:14 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Wed, 08/05/2009 - 11:36 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 23:54 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Wed, 08/05/2009 - 05:50 | Link to Comment Anonymous
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