Trading Blind – Unsupervised Markets As Regulator Shuts Down

The CFTC is shutting down most of its operations too, leaving a skeletal crew to supervise the whole wide world of the markets out there.

“a bare minimum level of oversight and surveillance of the futures markets, clearing operations, and intermediaries is maintained. However, the vast bulk of the CFTC’s oversight and surveillance functions will cease..”
http://www.cftc.gov/ucm/groups/public/@newsroom/documents/pressrelease/cftcshutdown.pdf

Great. Time to engineer prices ?

Gold had a big crash yesterday of over 3% in a swift and sudden drop.

gold intraday 1 oct

This WSJ article hinted at rumours of a fund liquidation.
http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2013/10/01/gold-selloff-catches-some-off-guard/

It is easy to blame the hairy markets on excessive volatility caused by the US shutdown situation. It is easier to create volatility and bust charts out of ranges.

The unrestrained moves will only exacerbate in the days ahead as long as there is a scapegoat around. And as for the punching bags ?

Everything and everyone who is not in the golden circle.