Those trading microcap uranium supplier USEC Inc (USU) were treated to a rare spectacle moments ago: one or a series of absolutely berserk algos took the stock up from $8 to nearly $16 in a wondrous example of momentum ignition [4], where one algo was telegraphing it knew something in a bid to get other algos to ramp the thinly traded stock , and succeeded. This move followed Friday's comparable surge by 70% on even more "no news." A circuit breaker halt followed and then the usual $1 bid/ask spreads as algo after algo was positioning to frontrun other algos, but by then all hell had broken loose. Volume as of moments ago: over 2 million on a stock that has ADV of under 100k. Management reiterated what it said on Friday, namely that it had no comment: "In view of the unusual market activity in the company’s stock, the New York Stock Exchange has contacted the company in accordance with its usual practice. The company stated that its policy is not to comment on unusual market activity" ensuring that the newsfree lunacy would continue.
That's ok though: the sincere laughter that this move has generated by trading desks everywhere at the broken farce of a market was worth the price of admission.
[5]
and close-up - the perfectly normal expoential acceleration in both price and volume...
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