Asher Edelman Triggers Traders by Suggesting The PPT is Buying Market Dips

Granted, he didn’t deliver this theory in the most cogent way possible, ending up looking like your crazy uncle spewing out UFO theories at the Thanksgiving table. As traders, it’s very easy to simply chalk up the market action to some unseen hand, the proverbial plunge protection team working tirelessly to keep America’s only credible export viable.

All of this stems from executive order 12631, under President Reagan — where a ‘working group’ would be designated to stabilize markets.

It seems pretty explicit to me, does it not. We’re not talking about hiding the fact that the earth is flat, or ancient civilizations are living in Antarctica in underground cities. You’d think the government would have a vested interest in rigging markets, or at least stabilizing them, in order to support the tax base, create an environment where corporations hire more workers and/or merge with others — creating more tax events. Stable markets, inherently, promote prosperity and our place in the world as currency reserve status. The equity built up by corporations can be used to issue dividends, encouraging employees and shareholders to spend more and donate to charity. When hedge funds rake in the profits, there is a tangible ripple effect that is enjoyed by the nation, via philanthropic causes and/or art, real estate, travel and the collectibles market.

Shit, I can think of a thousand reasons why the government should stabilize markets — actively buy them, in secret of course, in order to keep this racket going. Frankly, it’s less logical not to consider the existence of the working group, than merely dismissing it as idle conspiratorial subterfuge.

Smoking gun evidence aside, there is record low volatility, record highs, in a shitty global economy beset by both political and monetary instability. Nothing stops it, not negative interest rates, massive Chinese capital outflows, flash crashes, terrorist attacks, fraud, scam IPOs, outrageous valuations in the tech sector, war etc. The end result, as always, is a very orderly melt up to new highs. Markets are not tethered to any economic backdrop worth exploring, but instead the path of least resistance.

Some on social media disagree.

This is the dumbest, most data- and logic-free theory I’ve ever heard. Lucky I wasn’t on set. https://t.co/LuKQJFkQPV

— Downtown Josh Brown (@ReformedBroker) May 24, 2017

@CNBCFastMoney @AsherEdelman That was a stupid waste of time.

— Robert Smith (@RSmithInc) May 23, 2017

@CNBCFastMoney @AsherEdelman So buying the dip, really means buying the plunge protection conspiracy, implemented by secret society investors, right ?

— Edmond Yammine (@EDY47000) May 23, 2017

@CNBCFastMoney @AsherEdelman Where was the plunge protection team in 2009?

— Michael Gorbaty (@MichaelGorbaty) May 24, 2017

@CNBCFastMoney @AsherEdelman Again, you’re high. There was a panic every second of each session in late 07 throughout 08.

— Andrew P. Jamroz (@HolyCurlin) May 23, 2017

@CNBCFastMoney @AsherEdelman Why would you give airtime to idiotic conspiracy theories? #fakenews

— Blake PDX (@pdxblake) May 24, 2017

The obvious rebuttal to people who believe markets are rigged is ‘what happened in 2008-2009 and any of the other market scares?’ Playing devil’s advocate here, and as someone who happens to think there is definitely chicanery in our markets taking place on a regular basis, I’d argue that during times of grave market dislocations, the animal spirits of the many overwhelm the resources of the few who are tasked with stabilizing markets. The same could be said about Fed rate cuts during the financial crisis. Typically when the Fed cuts, especially emergency cuts, markets respond by rallying. Back then, nothing was helping stocks rally — it was down, down and then down some more. It was, in a sense, the end of western finance. It had the feeling of destined doom, a sense that nothing would be able to provide markets with a bid. It was at that moment, 666 on the S&P, that markets placed in an apathetic bottom and never looked back.

I doubt the plunge protection team had anything to do with the market bottoming in 2009. But do they exist? Maybe (cue creepy alien music).

For more on this topic, Tyler at Zerohedge chimes in.

Here was a montage that Ragin Cajun put together of the market crash in 2008.

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