As per my last diary, I have been following the Program Trading reports at the NYSE for a bit, and today there was a whopper. Now, first off, Goldman Sachs went from a near dominate position within the program to not even been registered.

Here is the data from two weeks ago:

http://www.nyse.com/...



As you can see, Goldman Sachs dominates the trading in this program. This has been the case since SPL was created last October. I think it has something to do with having the keys to the Treasury and market dominance.

But then something ODD has happened:

http://www.nyse.com/...



Gone, over night. Someone, either at the NYSE or Goldman Sachs, needs to explain what exactly is going on, because this audit sheet is also in error.

Total for 15 Member Firms: 5,425.7

Total for All Firms Reporting: 4,096.4

Uh, no. The total for All Firms must be higher than the 15 Member Firms. This "anomaly" also happens in the All Other Strategies column:



Total for 15 Member Firms: 5,390.7

Total for All Firms Reporting: 4,050.9

To quote the great philosopher of our time, Ralph Wiggum, "That is unpossible."

Keep this in your pocket, it's a slip showing a slip:



Someone at the NYSE needs to either "update" this information or explain how the total market is reporting less than a select membership of the market. This Program Trading Report is one of the few windows into the SLP program, a program used by banks to recover from the "credit" crisis.

All of this does not compute. On top of all this, the NYSE extended trading last Friday (for style points, I'll use Fox Business):

NYSE Traders Forced Into Rare Extra Inning

http://www.foxbusiness.com/...

The New York Stock Exchange extended trading by 15 minutes Thursday, in an extraordinary move prompted by what the exchange said were "system irregularities." The NYSE had connectivity issues that prevented some orders from being completed at the traditional 4 p.m. Eastern time close. As a result, traders were allowed to manually execute orders until 4:15 p.m. Unlike other stock markets, the NYSE still uses specialists, or actual traders who hold mini-auctions that help set the price of a stock. While electronic trading now makes up the bulk of trading at the Big Board, specialists still handle some of the order flow on the exchange floor. Trading past the official close is rare, but in October 2008, amid the heavy volatility brought on by the near-collapse of the U.S. financial system, trading in individual stocks was extended so specialists could fill orders.

Add to this:

Goldman Sachs disappearance from the Program Trading report

A rogue trading stealing their quant platform

Obvious basic math errors in the Program Trading Report

Someone needs to start answering questions.

There is a ghost in the machine.