Nanex Research

Nanex ~ 30-May-2014 ~ Trading Frenzies at Market Close

There has always been increased trading activity around the closing of the regular session of the U.S. Stock market at 16:00 Eastern Time. However, it turns out that some days have much higher activiy than others, and these are predictable: the last trading day of the month. We don't know the full reason why this is the case. The evidence, however, clearly indicates the last trading day of the month will see 50,000 or more eMini contracts traded in the last seconds of the session. The value of 50,000 contracts is worth approximately $4.8 billion.

Number of eMini (ES) Futures Contracts traded in the last few seconds before 16:00 Eastern Time.
Chart only shows days where 5,000 or more eMini contracts traded in the last few seconds. 5,000 contracts has an approximate value of $480 million.
The red diamonds indicate active days that were the last trading day of the month: see how the red diamond days are much higher than other active closes?
The green diamonds show the last trading day in May - note there is nothing special about May.



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