because its all about propping up the futures and not actually buying... easier to prop the futures and PPT has to spend less money when there is no volume. Big Players gave up shorting/selling for anything more than a .01 scalp because they know volume will come in when market moves to the downside and stop the decline and then slowly PPT takes it back up and forces all the shorts to cover.... although every once and a while they will let the market "drip" down to suck in more short money to use as rocket fuel on the way back up. weeeee
Jesus this market is about as exciting as staring at a blank wall in a dark room, with some inbred country music blaring in the background.
I realize that this type of talk does NOT sit well with folks new to the financial markets. Or folks in general that believe the govt advocates a free market. I have been around markets and read everything out there in the last 20 years. It was not until I worked around a couple exchanges and traded for a couple trading desks that I started to see things differently. My bosses had run desks out east some very famous hedgefunds. The news he gave to me after Sept 11 sealed the deal for me. I don't believe the plunge prevention team hits the buy and sell button. But I know for a fact they put pressure on large players to swing a certain way. I mean extreme pressure. The political class in this countries fears another depression. I believe this type of manipulation is futile in the long run. But if you were to tell me that Japan would successfully pin its currency (a G7 currency) time and time again---SUCCESSFULLY. I would not have believed it. But they have done it. Govt's try to manipulate everything. Always have ---always will. Like I said -- the Asian collapse and Hong Kong buying their own stocks and admitting it---sealed the deal for me. What I saw and heard when the markets came roaring back on the Sept 11 further solidified what I was already felt was true. You will hard be pressed to find someone getting rich selling the US stock market into the hole. It comes back everytime and it is UnNatural for any market to act like that. The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.