In the following video, Karl Denninger points out large contract bids on the /ES that appear only momentarily and are pulled very quickly prior to execution. This pulls the price towards the large number of bids (or asks) and is indeed a blatant example of market manipulation.
This is obviously done by computer and cannot possibly be executed by retail investors or those without direct access to the exchanges via a high frequency trading platform. Karl calls on the SEC, but they are obviously MIA. The only question is my mind is why? To me, the real game that’s being played is not on the market, but on the American public because I believe these games are known and possibly even sanctioned by our government – I wouldn’t even venture a guess at motivation be it greed or some other form of twisted and deluded “save America” reasoning.
The bottom line is that you need to be aware that the “markets” you are investing in are not really free markets at all. Thus I would not recommend that you regard them as functioning at this time and you should take action to protect yourself.