ICE Cancels DXY Trades After “Impossible” Action Moves Index 9% Higher, $ Plunge Enforcement Team Arrives At Crime Scene
Courtesy of Tyler Durden
Some crazy action today on the CME around 7 am Eastern when dollar index futures surged an unbelievable 9% from 75.38 to 82.18. As apparently the CME has never seen what happened to VOW stock when the short squeeze was recreating Armageddon over at permabull Larry Robbins’ office (i.e. stock moved up 100% in about an hour), we can see why they would be confused by what could have been the start of the dollar short unwind when the second leg of the Ukrainian plunge occurred earlier. So instead of validating these trades, the CME has decided to simply cancel them: because fat fingers in billions worth of futures are just so prevalent.
From MarketWatch:
The IntercontinentalExchange is probing trades in U.S. dollar index futures that briefly showed a massive 9% jump on Friday morning.
The lead contract surged as high as 82.18, up from a 75.38 close on Thursday. Such a move was improbable given that in spot markets, the dollar’s moves against major currencies such as the euro were limited to about 1%.
The ICE agreed, and according to an exchange official, all trades above 76.50 were being cancelled. The ICE was still investigating the cause of the incident, the official said.
Dollar index futures were still elevated after the incident, up a more modest 0.7% to 75.91.
The move briefly had an impact on other markets, as futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell as much as 99 points.
The dollar “plunge enforcement team” has been promptly woken up from its Larry Summerseqsue narcolpetic slumber and will rectify any and all attempts at a returns to fair market value.