Reuters reports that Waddell & Reed Financial Inc. (WDR) and not a hedge fund or a high frequency trader is the big mystery seller of futures contracts that triggered the market crash last Thursday.
The paper said it has found an internal document from CME Group (CME) that reveals Waddell sold on May 6, 75,000 e-mini contracts at once during a 20-minute span in which U.S. markets lost nearly 1,000 points, briefly wiping out $1 trillion in market capital.
According to the document, officials quickly focused on Waddell’s sale of its large number of e-mini contracts, which the document said “superficially appeared to be anomalous activity.” The CME document also shows that during the sell-off and subsequent rally, other active traders in e-minis — considered the most liquid futures contracts in the world — included Jump Trading, Goldman Sachs (GS), Interactive Brokers (IBKR), JPMorgan (JPM) and Citadel Group.
Shares of Waddell fell $2.04, or 6.14%, to $31.97 in recent trading.
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