This is what happened to the world's most valuable company in the last minutes of trading, when a few million shares in the last 10 minutes, and a volume slam in the last few seconds, sent the stock from just shy of $128 where it had been trading most of the day, to just over $125. A nearly $10 billion move in market cap in seconds.... on nothing.
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Zoomed in courtesy of Nanex:
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And annotated:
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Well, not nothing. Some market maker knew the would have a lot to pay if any of the 25,000 $127 calls, and 18,500 calls at $126 expired in the money. Oh, and those 57,000 $125 calls lost over $10 million thanks to the last second move.
And, alternatively, those who were short the calls, are deilghted as a result of this last minute stock manipulation.
Because this, in the new paranormal (and in the case of AAPL, almost literally) is the "market."
And, no, before you ask: the regulators won't lift a finger.
