Loading ...And while we don’t know if it is indeed pensions, or someone merely frontrunning today’s forced buying – or perhaps just pretending to be them – at precisely 2:05pm, the NYSE TICK – an indicator showing relative strength of buy and sell orders – just hit 1,735, the second highest reading on record, as an absolutely gargnatuan buy order hit…
… sending stocks to session highs.
Putting today’s massive buy program burst in context, within just 15 minutes, we had three TICK prints that were 1,631 or higher. As a reminder, yesterday’s high TICK print – which helped send the Dow nearly 900 points higher – of 1,662 was the 4th largest buy order of all time. That means that today alone we have had three absolutely massive buy programs all within just minutes of each other.
While this was a little early considering yesterday the pension bid emerged at precisely 2:30pm, perhaps pension fund managers decided to be “less predictable” today and start the buying earlier. Alternatively, it may be a trader posing as a “pension”, hoping to spark upward momentum into which to dump positions.
In any case, keep a close eye on the TICK – if this is a fake breakout, we may see some truly historic downward TICK prints over the next 90 minutes.