Earlier this week, when we first discussed the flush in stocks, we highlighted that while retail investors were puking up blood (just weeks after unleashing a record buying spree), something odd was happening with institutional and hedge fund traders: they were mostly on the sidelines, some shorting modestly, others "aggressively watching", but nobody was panic selling similar to what retail was doing.
This is a retail liquidation. Zero institutions selling right now
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) February 25, 2025
Goldman mid-day recap: "Asset managers continue to “aggressively watch” and HFs are very active again degrossing (HF activity is a 9 out of 10 on our trading desk this AM). In TMT: We saw HFs cut risk in Megacap…
Which is a problem. because as bank after bank has opined in recent days, the ongoing momentum implosion - and sharp momentum drawdown - is unlikely to end until there is a wholesale market puke... but so far institutions just refuse to puke!
