Goldman Sachs Principal Transactions Update: 741 Million Shares

Latest NYSE Program Trading data out. Program trading last week ramped up by 27% from 26.5% the week before, to 33.7% of all NYSE buy+sell volume, and much higher than the 52 week average of 25.3%. The 15 most active member firms traded 1.9 billion shares for principal accounts, compared to 1.6 in the prior week. The top principal trader is and has always been (at least for the past 9 months) Goldman Sachs (GS), with 741.7 million principal trades, virtually nothing in facilitation and 115 million in agency, keeping the principal to non-principal ratio at just under 7x. (click on chart to enlarge)



And if the Goldman Supplemental Liquidity Provider team is patting itself on the back for its tremendous contribution of being the major (and likely only) liquidity provider, maybe they can explain the insane bid/offer spreads on the SPY at close yesterday (and everyday): one could drive a Tengzhong Sichuan-made Hummer/forklift through that spread blindfolded (no, JPM, nobody is interested in your constant SPY machine-gunning with 5k SPY blocks on every single goddamn market dip).

Comments

[SW Richmond:]

Dear Goldman:

www.youtube.com/watch?...

Jun 05 07:16 AM

[tunaman4u2:]

Its insane Tyler, you're right man, boy its dangerous to buy right now... they are pumping this market huge everyday & 15 minutes into the close has been VERY suspect for many days now. Its amazing they got bailout funds because they certainly are showing they have enough money to throw around...

Jun 05 07:46 AM

[Did U Think...:]

The market is not stupid. It is letting GS dig itself a grave. People think GA is omnipotent. More truthfully it is just hyper leveraged. Its a foregone conclusion that this will end badly for them. You really can't fool all the people all the time.

Jun 05 08:36 AM

[LoveShorting:]

To "Did U Think" ... Thanks for making my day. I am among the very few with a short on GS. Now I feel better, maybe I haven't lost my mind?

Jun 05 09:57 AM

[ain't no fo...:]

www.youtube.com/watch?...

Jun 05 10:17 AM

[seekingnorm...:]

Fighting herd instinct is like racing to the top of a hill. You're in a fiat punto, the herd's in a sherman tank. You're off the starting block first, but the tank eventually gains on you and runs you over. Your car's out of action and you're stuck in the middle of the road. Further up, the tank's run out of gas too and starts sliding back. As it's heavier, it picks up speed and runs you over a second time on the way down. At this point, you look like roadkill. I know I do.

Jun 05 10:23 AM

[swaps:]

That Apocalypse clip says it all.

Jun 05 10:36 AM

[carey_jim:]

The real question is, where is the sheriff?

Jun 05 11:22 AM

[mdmrjsds:]

On Jun 05 11:22 AM carey_jim wrote:

> The real question is, where is the sheriff?

Surely, that question is rhetorical? ;-)

GS is acting on behalf of the sherriff. A wink is as good as a nod. :-) The financial powers believe that we are in such dire straits that *anything* goes. Their desire to get the escalator going again is beyond desperate and into blind panic. They don't understand that kicking the can down the road only works when energy is abundant and cheap, and with technology increasing thermodynamic productivity, so that when it comes time to pay back the debt you kicked down the road, it is cheaper then than now. We aren't in that environment anymore, we are in the transition to an environment where future payments are *more* expensive than current payments. The death of neo-Keynesianism. But just like flat earthers didn't give up without a severe fight, so the financial powers won't give up until their nose is rubbed in it. Read about major paradigms and when they shift, and the patterns of behavior around that shift.

There is even a chance they will be able to animate the corpse for one more go round, one more positive feedback cycle, but I give that a less than 10% chance despite all their efforts.

We'll see. Whatever else happens, we are watching events of historical importance unfold.

Investing in this environment isn't investing. It is trying to guess the next move of the manipulators, and finding an angle to profit from that manipulation. Is there a way to game the manipulation at the close, knowing that they as manipulators themselves, will be aware of and protecting against being manipulated? Are there any tells? :-)

Jun 05 12:10 PM

[victoralpha:]

You crack me up, we need to have a Tyler Durden video cam. I bet you go through a few keyboards. This stuff is only going to get worse as the real fundementals begin to come out. They will have to morph a lot of fingers to plug the holes that are appearing in the damn.

Jun 05 05:03 PM

[Big Al45:]

I can't wait to see what the statistics for this week's trading look like. Wouldn't be surprised to see GS accounting for 40% of the buy sell volume and 100% of this week's bogus rally.

Still, if GS is making purchases for the FED and the FED is hiding these purchases in its off balance sheet accounts, there is no limit to how long this rally will last.

Jun 05 07:36 PM

[Distressed ...:]

lol


On Jun 05 12:10 PM mdmrjsds wrote:

> On Jun 05 11:22 AM carey_jim wrote:

Jun 07 03:48 AM

[Distressed ...:]

I feel like Bernanke wants to put a gun to his head...

Jun 07 03:50 AM

[kmarkt2:]

mdmrjsds - you are quite right about GS being Sheriff; apparently, GS is also leader of the jury. If Wall Street bankers, i.e the "Money Changers" as FDR aptly call them were given all that TARP money to wager their bets, they got to sucker someone to ride the wagon before jumping off. How else are they going to repay the TARP money and pay the bonuses so quickly. This is where the Obama Administration has let the electorate hung out to dry - the Geithner - Bernanke duo couldn't unshackle themselves fom Wall Street's grip when there was this one shot-one kill opportunity to do so in 1Q 2009. They are of the believe that when the Wall Street bankers strenghtened their positions, credit would ease into Main Street - well Mr Bernanke conundrum is coming back to roost with higher mortgage rates for folks going for ARM resets -when these TARP money was gotten at near bottom interest rates! Of course, teh favored son amongst Wall Street is GS, then JPM - same family stable.
So much for US policy directions. Actually, FDIC Bair's position on failure of big banks begs a clarification - if Citi or BofA are allowed to fail, wouldn't that mean more concentration by GS-JPM ?


On Jun 05 12:10 PM mdmrjsds wrote:

> On Jun 05 11:22 AM carey_jim wrote:

Jun 07 11:03 PM

[Did U Think...:]

On Jun 07 03:50 AM Distressed Volatility wrote:
> I feel like Bernanke wants to put a gun to his head...<

Being the generous fellow that I am, I volunteer to loan him my revolver as long as he gets it over with quickly. If Paulson and Greenspan are interested in partaking of my generosity I will even throw in the bullets for free.

All figuratively speaking, of course...

Jun 28 07:16 AM