Full disclosure: I don’t believe the “fat finger” cover story for today’s stock market panic. That was obviously floated to con the public, is absurd on its face, and doesn’t account for the snap back at 1000 down or stress leading up to the event in other financial markets.
I agree with you there. One fat finger won’t take down multiple stocks simultaneously. It could be someone attacking trailing stops on stocks in order to cause a ‘cascade’. This is done by looking at all the listed trailing stops.. and if there enough, placing a buy order to cover, several places below the trailing stops and then shorting hard to drive down the stock and trigger the stops to cause further stock sales.
It could also have been ‘automated’ transactions.. but any investment firm that puts all their triggers at the same relative price, could be setting themselves up for a loss. The only way they could profit is by ‘convincing’ someone else to part with their stocks at yet a lower price.
