Key insights
- A significant intraday sell-off in QQQ occurred this morning with no apparent news, raising suspicions of insider trading. The market reversed sharply after the POTUS announced Iran shot down a US helicopter, suggesting some parties may have been tipped off. This geopolitical event and potential market manipulation create a bearish short-term outlook due to heightened uncertainty and risk aversion.
Markets had an unexpected and intense sell off this morning on virtually no news. I'm sure many people will cite 'profit taking' as the reason, but I seriously doubt it. QQQ experienced a 4% intra day drop which is a very material decline. Usually declines of this magnitude are triggered by unexpected news. Yet this morning, current events were very quiet.
Then at 1:00 PM eastern, the POTUS announced that Iran shot down a US helicopter last night and promised to retaliate. While it was already known earlier in the day that a helicopter went down, the reasons were unknown. The announcement that the Iranians shot it down made it a more serious issue.
I suspect certain parties were tipped off on these developments and sold off the markets in the morning. And once the news was announced at 1:00, the market inexplicably started to surge, almost like insiders were taking profits on their morning selling activity.
Overall, this was a very suspicious day of trading.