Last time it was trading faster than the speed of light in gold and stocks [3]. This time, 50 seconds before the FOMC statement was officially released to the great unwashed, Nanex notes [4] that the market exploded with activity reaching levels higher than during the actual FOMC news release. As they show in the charts below, approximately $106 Million of SPY and 3,700 eMini Futures contracts traded in 1 second. Gold - while less voluminous - was just as berserko in the minutes and seconds leading up the news release. What is going on here?
See also this image [5] of eMini liquidity during this time.
[5]
For clairfication, here is S&P 500 Futures price and volume... (1-second bars)
[6]
And Gold...
[7]
And Nanex shows the incredible surge in activity... [4]
1. Trades per second in NMS Stocks and ETFs (2,200 of approximately 8000 symbols traded).
Note the peak occurred about 50 seconds before the FOMC announcement.
2. Dollars traded (thousands) per second in NMS Stocks and ETFs.
Note the peak occurred about 50 seconds before the FOMC announcement.
3. Symbols traded per second in NMS Stocks and ETFs.
Nanex Research [8]