Plunge Protection Team?

[rockrock]

Stock Market's DaVinci Code

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It sounds like a crazy conspiracy theory for sure, but it is one that has currency and won't go away. The conspiracy goes like this: There is a group of federal government officials — the Treasury secretary, the Fed chairman — plus senior NYSE officials who make up, the Plunge Protection Team. It is said they intervene to put a floor under stocks whenever they are at risk of penetrating important levels of technical support, such as when the 50-day moving average slips under the 200-day moving average. Technicians call this the Death Cross, because, when that happens, it can trigger a larger, steeper rout caused by ask-no-questions programmed selling, which can lead to outright panic selling.

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Any traders here seen evidence of this??

[Sniper]

The Plunge Protection Team is real! You can see their activity whenever there are sharp selloffs in the indexes. They are not there to protect individual stocks, but rather to keep the entire market from going into an overexhuberant downward spiral, that would cause unneccessary panic!

As to the 50 day MA... this is a key indicator for alot of institutional activity. A strategy of buying crosses above the 50 day MA and selling crosses below the 50 day moving average would be a long term winning stategy in many stocks. (of course the strategy needs to be enhanced, so that you don't chop yourself up when a stock is trading on the 50day MA for a period of time... many market timers use this as one part of a comprehensive timing strategy)