Alex....
The PPT (in my thinking) can be distinguished from "da boyz" by the way they enter the market. In the past, the PPT always comes in with both feet, never half hearted and they always come with the intent of not only stopping the sell-off but with a view of getting a sustainable rally underway. They do so by running a combination of various index futures, important index stocks, and the $USD, and frequently thump gold in the process.
I watch for their entry by monitoring a group of important index stocks in a box on my market minder - INTC, CSCO, MSFT, IBM, and GE. INTC and MSFT are the most important of these because of being in all the important indexes. The PPT does not always use all of them every time they come in, but the hallmark is that waves of "at the market" buy orders hit most of those stocks with a new wave of buying hitting simultaneously in each stock as soon as the previous one wears out. Watching them, it is obvious that the object of the buying is not to own the stocks, but to drive their prices up - if the intent was just to own them, that is hardly the way you would go about buying into them. The waves of buying will continue until short covering begins to take over and the hedge funds pile in to make the rally self sustaining, and they will resume at any signs of a reversal to the downside.
Until this most recent rally, that was all they wanted, but this time they have kept the rally going by stepping in at each attempt at a downturn. I am not sure why the change in tactics, but it bears watching.
The other hallmark of most, if not all, PPT entries has been for them to run the $USD at the same time, usually starting just before the buying in equities and futures. They usually are not satisfied with just one pump, often taking it far above what one would expect in just a $USD rally, as if advertising their presence. Frequently, they also hit the POG, but that does not always happen except when the money center banks are under pressure.
When I see the futures and primary index stocks suddenly light up my market minder all at the same time and on heavy volume, I check the $USD and gold for confirmation. They do not always run the dollar, but when they do, it is going to be a big one.
Hope that helps.
mlsoft
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