When police try to solve a crime one of the key tasks is to determine who benefits from the crime. The beneficiary of a crime is not necessarily the perpetrator, but motive goes a long way to narrow the circle of potential suspects.
Who benefitted from this sudden aggressive sell-off aside from anyone who was positioned short?
Certainly not hedge funds that capitulated long in January with their highest long exposure in 3 years literally right before the sell-off.
And certainly not retail that went full balls long on the aura of optimism:
This trend continued right into February 1 following the FOMO train. Remember Ray Dalio?
