It's all Goldman Sachs' fault says Matt Taibbi

[Jan Klimkowski]

Via ZeroHedge with screen grab here.

Here Are The Most Actively Traded Names In Goldman's Dark Pool (Or Why Is The Big Money Fascinated With Italy?)

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 06/27/2011 13:43 -0400

Courtesy of recent disclosures, the common man (as in anyone who does not pay millions in kickbacks, er, soft dollar fees to GS) can now observe what is being traded on Goldman's Dark Pool, better known as Sigma X.

Why is this important? Because as Themis Trading presented last week, only 30% of all trading occurs on open exchange venues, meaning the bulk of actual shares change ownership behind the scenes, in places such as Sigma X, Chi X, and the dark pools of Credit Suisse, Citi, and various other banks, not to mention numerous other secondary ATS, where very little if any of the daily trading detail is released for general observation.

This means that while HFT algos drive up the volume of numerous top 10 stocks merely for the sake of collecting rebates, the real action is in the most actively traded dark pool names, where the big boys are actively trading risk, where HFTs are non-existent, and the companies that represent the top 5 is what investors, speculators, and vacuum tubes should be focusing on. Not surprisingly, today's most active names are Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, Unicredit and Intesa Sanpaolo. Translation: someone is actively positioning for serious action in Italy shortly.