Mr. Roboto

In honor of:

a) Macro Man's friend Old Guy who wrote yesterday that he sold some holdings that he'd held "since before some Macro Man commenters were born"

b) The NYSE going down for most of the day thanks to a "computer glitch"

c) United Airlines going down because of a "computer glitch"

d) the WSJ going down because of "a computer glitch"

e) China serving as a reminder that stocks can go down a lot as well as up 

Macro Man's kicking it old school today with a riff on Styx's immortal Mr. Roboto:

Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto
Ichiba de fusei kōi
Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto
To ningen no uwaki

You’re wondering who I am (order order, I’ve got an order)
Machine or mannequin (order order, I’ve got an order)
With parts made in Taiwan (order order, I’ve got an order)
I’m faster than a man

I’ve got an order I’ve been spamming since an hour ago
My writer human, my speed astounding, my brain Lenovo
So if you see me acting strangely, don’t be surprised
I’m just a program gone haywire, with nowhere to hide

Please keep me alive, just keep me alive
Cancel my trades, to keep me alive

I am a robot without emotions,  I’m what you can’t see
I front run people but say I provide liquidity
I’m not a hero, I am the matrix, forget what you know
About the market, just hope it don’t get beyond my control

Beyond my control, we all need control
I am out of control, we all need control

I’m faster than a man (order order, I’ve got an order)
Rely on me?  Don’t plan (order order, I’ve got an order)
The SEC can’t see (order order, I’ve got an order)
They should regulate me

Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto, domo…domo
Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto, domo…domo
Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto,
Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto,
Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto,
Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto

Thank you very much, Mr. Roboto
For doing the trades nobody wants to
And thank you very much Mr. Roboto
For stopping me out when that red headline fooled you
Thank you, thank you, thank you
I want to thank you, please, thank you

The problem’s plain to see
Too much technology
Liquidity black hole
Machines out of control

The time has come at last (order order, I’ve got an order)
The flash crash blame is past (order order, I’ve got an order)
Now everyone can see (order order, I’ve got an order)
My true identity…
I’m Killjoy!  Killjoy!  Killjoy! Killjoy!


Previous
Next Post »

21 comments

Click here for comments
Anonymous
admin
July 9, 2015 at 11:15 AM ×

Domo arigato Mate..and Sayonara!

Reply
avatar
Leftback
admin
July 9, 2015 at 11:38 AM ×

Here's your backup dancer, MM:

Peter Crouch, Robot Dance

Reply
avatar
FunnyMoney
admin
July 9, 2015 at 12:16 PM ×

China makes selling equities illegal - police vow to arrest anyone shorting (ROFL). Anyway, Shanghai up 6%, Nikkei up 3%, EU equities up 2% today, US equities up 1% (before US trading). Yet another day where BTFD wins again.

I like the posters on this site, but regrettably, for those of you bearish on equities, I have been obliged to report you for crimes against humanity. The secret police will carry you away in 'short' order :)

I'm now off on vacation - time to spend some of this funny money. Enjoy the summer.



Reply
avatar
Anonymous
admin
July 9, 2015 at 1:11 PM ×

Re FM,

What do you expect? Even DOJ sued and fined Wall Street til the end of world. You think that Chinese police will be more merciful?

Joke aside, those big whales shorting SHCOMP are probably easily identifiable but almost untouchable. So they are enjoying their profits somewhere nice while everyone else is recovering some loss. Take the PBOC handouts while you can!

Reply
avatar
abee crombie
admin
July 9, 2015 at 1:44 PM ×

FM, I think this is good beach time bc what we have is just a bunch of stuff that isnt lining up.

SPX right at narrow range 200 day MA. EEM on the lower band of a 3 year trading range (china syndrom). Currencies volatile and pointing to risk off (EUR pairs aside). Fed funds rates pointing to no increase in Sept, while the mins, to me at least sounded like they want to go unless something derails them...

so either we are going to get a sell off in risk or I think SPX is going to jump violently to the upside and then take interest rate projections with them. Either way doenst seem like easy trading for investors or anyone else with a holding period of more than a few hours. Trends are very hard to discern at this point.

Reply
avatar
Anonymous
admin
July 9, 2015 at 3:04 PM ×

Euro bosses are prob. looking at what's happening at the BRICS' summit this week.
Greeks know it too..more Euros are coming their way without any meaningful changes!

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/heres-17-trillion-reason-why-231038739.html;_ylt=A0LEVjxjfp5VHP0A2BgnnIlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTE0dGo0NDNsBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDRkZYVUkyN18xBHNlYwNzYw--

Reply
avatar
Anonymous
admin
July 9, 2015 at 6:46 PM ×

Subway Jared!

Reply
avatar
winginit
admin
July 9, 2015 at 8:22 PM ×

Well yes. Happy w a paper trade and a cold beer or two. Thats it for me right now. But my interest now is eurusd. The bet seem almost to easy. We wait for the greece shit to settle and then let gravity do its work towards 1.05?
Maybe its the beer talking ;)

Reply
avatar
hipper
admin
July 10, 2015 at 12:04 AM ×

Probably best to watch the safe havens now for a more reliable indication of the real perception, not equities suffering from hypomania. If bunds go back to over .9 in the next few days thats a pretty clear indication what the collective market perspective is. And USTs seem weak even without the fudge resolution confirmation so they might get doubly weaker if the perception is pro-fudge. If UST-bund spread widening that might make USD unreliable as an indicator to watch anymore.

Initially EUR might go up but after the dust settles and business as usual comes back then yield spreads start guiding FX again? That ultimately determines EM/commodity risk off or on.

Reply
avatar
washedup
admin
July 10, 2015 at 12:48 AM ×

hipper - thinking along the same lines - UST's have been trading really heavy all things considered so the path here may be post grextension relief risk on followed, in short order by handwringing on rising rates - that said, doubt we get more than a mild drift higher in the dollar and that too mainly from the yen re-weakening.
The big question is whether a relief rally in US equities would take us to new highs - I am honestly not sure.

Reply
avatar
Anonymous
admin
July 10, 2015 at 9:46 AM ×

I love it. Rallying into the weekend for the third weekend in a row in expectation of a deal. No way the Eurogroup or Germany are going to come back with a no or simply a counter proposal that the Greeks just can't take and back to stand off or worse again.

Hopium.

Reply
avatar
Anonymous
admin
July 10, 2015 at 12:37 PM ×

HFT/MarketMaker: Looks like retail and institutional just keep buying the dips - this is hitting our profit margins.
Central Bank: No probs, we'll release some bad news so that you can launch sell programs all afternoon to run their stops, then when the market closes, we'll release some good news...
HFT/MarketMaker: LOL
Central Bank: Yeah and for good measure an Asian sovereign has agreed to sell several yards of Yen and launch a multi-million equity buy program on Globex the second our good news hits the wires, "to hit their inflation target". Should be good for a 200pt pop, then you can run stops the other way. Oh, and cut us in for 50% of the profit ok?
HFT/MarketMaker: Done.
Retail & Institutional Investor: WTF???

Reply
avatar
Anonymous
admin
July 10, 2015 at 6:42 PM ×

BBG:Buyback authorizations so far in 2015 have already topped full-year totals for 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012 and are on pace to set a record of $993 billion, according to Birinyi Associates Inc.

``The ultimate putdown by the bears has been that the buybacks are just another form of financial engineering that artificially boosts earnings per share. The most extreme accusation is that the purchases are a form of stock manipulation. I am often asked by our accounts, and sometimes by reporters, whether I concur with this charge. My response is that I am an investment strategist, not a preacher. I don't do morality. I don't make judgments on `good' or `evil.' I do `bullish' or `bearish.'''
Ed Yardeni

Reply
avatar
Leftback
admin
July 10, 2015 at 11:45 PM ×

MM, if you need help at the blog while you Tweet, Ellen Pao is available...

LB still waiting for US fixed income to become investable again. If the Greek "deal" or whatever one wants to call it is ratified by everyone next week, then we may finally get to see where the ceiling is for US 10y w/o the Greece "fear premium", and then we can also see whether the front end is going to creep upwards into September (as it probably should) or jerk discontinuously late in August. Either way, capitulation in bonds is coming fairly soon, and that's where the opportunities are going to be found.

Hammock Time continues, although we did enjoy a small Greek options punt again this week, b/c like the attractive slightly drunk sorority girl at the end of the party, it would have been rude not to.

Reply
avatar
Anonymous
admin
July 11, 2015 at 12:38 AM ×

LB - watch out for STD's.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2989697/Americans-likely-STD-Europeans-New-research-reveals-Iceland-chlamydia-capital-Europe-Washington-D-C-tops-HIV-league.html

Reply
avatar
Anonymous
admin
July 11, 2015 at 6:43 PM ×

" What we have is the mentality that rules are made to be broken.”
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/world/greece-zakyntos-island-of-the-blind-scam-822595

Reply
avatar
Anonymous
admin
July 11, 2015 at 10:24 PM ×

>>> " What we have is the mentality that rules are made to be broken.” <<<

Not for the Bosh, clearly, who'd rather blow up their EZ, create a failed state on Europe's frontline southern border, the consequences be damned, because ze rules are ze rules, verstehen.

Reply
avatar
hipper
admin
July 11, 2015 at 11:06 PM ×

Greece has atleast one more nuke option: print their own Euros without permission.

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article51289.html
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article51350.html

I wonder if they could replace their own letter "Y" in the serial number with some other letters. If they could, think of all the crazy mayhem that would cause in the whole Eurozone once they get into serious circulation. I wonder what Darth Weidmann, Schauble and Mangler would have to say about that lol. I'm really starting to love this ingenious nation.

Monday morning headline on Bloombags: "Capital controls begin to lax as Greek banks in better health than expected, caused by regulatory rounding error"

Reply
avatar
Leftback
admin
July 11, 2015 at 11:19 PM ×

Schäuble demanding $50M of collateral to be pledged before the Greek debt is rolled over again and becomes $400B. That's about 12 months of Janet's QE, so not a monstrous amount, but for a small country like Greece it is mind-blowing. Still, this is what's happening, the can will be kicked and Greek govies are going to trade down to 5-6% yields again within a few months.

It's interesting how many market commentators (not here) have been so far off in their predictions of how the Panto would end. One must always remember the Pantomime Dame [here played by Wolfgang Schäüble in drag] is sometimes also the villain, and she doesn't win. The Leading Boy [often played by a woman] is usually the victorious hero, sometimes winning the hand of the Girl [played by another woman]. Make sense of that.....

Reply
avatar
hipper
admin
July 12, 2015 at 12:17 AM ×

LB did you mean $50B by any chance?

Like Han Solo would've told Greeks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vyEHVZBZFM

Reply
avatar
washedup
admin
July 12, 2015 at 1:23 AM ×

its 50 billion - not clear to me whether its collateral, escrow, or asset sales - I don't know if the EU even allows for something like this to happen, but obviously rules can be re-made in a crunch - shoot first, legally defend later sort of thing.
The end game here may be Merkel shooting Schauble in the back and high fiving obama.
As an interesting observations to LB's point, we are in the middle of an Interesting apogee for global female power - the fate of the world rests on merkel, yellen, lagarde, and very soon hillary - but I am sure the boys will start a world war in the next few years to get it all back..

Reply
avatar