Great post by sasa on sqz bb16 Mar 2020 17:58
Hi NewK - the worst collapse in confidence I ever experienced first hand, fwiw, was the '72 - '74 bear mkt where prices fell -73% in 18 months (I was on the mkt trading floor in those days) so todays rout seems a bit tame by comparison...
However, what stopped the rot, almost instantly, was a group of substantial Instos (with the backing of the BoE) then ordered their brokers to stand in the middle of the trading floor and shout out: 'We're buyers and will take on all sellers' and that was the turning point.
Although we don't have 'face to face' dealing here any more, I dare say the same thing could be put together behind the electronic trading arrangements / bots we're into nowadays, if things get too much out of hand - such a dramatic / unexpected intervention just snapped the mkt out of its near 'death wish' back then and prices roared back.
Might history repeat itself at some point?....sasa.
I hope something similar is set up and shorters get absolutely toasted to be honest.