Painting the Tape

June is triple witching week, Dow up five straight years between 2003 and 2007.

On triple witching Friday, however, the Dow has been down 4 of the last 5.

And, the week after triple witching, the Dow has been down 9 years in a row, and 16 of the last 18 years.

Interesting historical facts here, as we remain in market of lower volumes upsides regularly. Some chartists and many professional traders believe what we saw Friday, with the last minute run up, was yet another example of the market makers "painting the tape."

Painting the Tape

What does it mean?
An illegal action committed by a group of market manipulators buying and selling a security among themselves to create artificial trading activity, which, when reported on the ticker tape, lures in unsuspecting investors as they perceive an unusual volume.

In Other Words...
After causing a movement in the security, the manipulators hope to sell at a profit.


The upside continues to surprise, and the market is now "UP" for the year. Euphoria reigns. How much of it is "painting the tape," how much just pure euphoria, and what is reasonable are always secondary to what is reality, and upside doesn't stop. Floyd remains wary :), cynical, and smiling.

Calls were tightly profitable on Friday, and we have an open hedge position to the put that we will sell by end of day. Only risk traders will hold this hedge position a day or so longer. We'll move to July expiry today, but make specific note that there is a count of 0, meaning a zero bias. Both option strings are strong.