I think one of the most fascinating things to watch over the past 18 months has been the Home Builders. The institutions are the majority holders of those companies, KBH, TOL, HOV, etc. The housing bears correctly saw blood in the water and placed short positions, the stocks began their decline but not without some major acrobatic swing trades. You could see the stock price move down which attracted retail shorts and then the institutions would just lower the hammer and squeeze. Rinse. Repeat. You can see how they mine their money out of a falling sector. I think thats what you have been seeing with the recent rally in the stock market. There is a record amount of short interest in the market and the big boys decided to throw some money in and squeeze the shorts. They did a pretty good job.