Courtesy of Tyler Durden
Now that HFTs are scrambling to find something, anything to replace the rebate-collection piggy bank that was Citi between $4 and $5, so far unsuccessfully, we get a glimpse of just how critical to the overal market HFT non-volume has been. In the first day of Citi trading post-split, total NYSE volume has now plunged to the second lowest level of all of 2011, eclipsing even low volume semi-holidays. And since none of the Citi "volume" was real volume but merely rebate collection churn, the broader public will finally understand what a complete sham "participation" in this centrally planned market has become. And for all those looking for some surprising pick up in commission revenue for the big banks, below is a chart of the inverse.
