Having lagged its higher-beta peers for over 3 months - unable to peek over the unchanged line year-to-date and staring blankly at its Transportation Index cousin - the Dow Jones Industrial Average has just traded into positive territory for the first time in 2014. Mission Accomplished? Wondering how it happened all of a sudden? Look no further than the volume spike at 3:29:57 in S&P 500 e-minis accompanies by the standard JPY ignition.
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As if to prove all the HFT naysayers right, milliseconds before 3:30 pm - the traditional time when HFT algos come out and ramp stocks into the last half hour of the day, a massive E-mini order block slammed the tape, driven by a tremor in the USDJPY (and a VIX smash below 13), sending the DJIA green for the year in the most unriggedly of manners.
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As for what catalyzed the move, here is Nanex:
15:29:57 - almost 10,000 eMini's in 2 seconds $ES_F [8] $SPY [9]
— Eric Scott Hunsader (@nanexllc) April 2, 2014 [10]