Can anyone explain how a FED announcement can cause a HUGE drop in thousands of stocks and ETF's and then an immediate spike within 60 seconds at 2pm EST today?

Were there automated systems out there flooding the queue's with sell orders to get everyone out of their stop/loss orders and then running up the price?

Look at almost any minute chart for any US based stock or ETF and the same pattern is repeated across the board. This can't be a reflection of mass behavior.. can it?

Just fear and greed crammed into a one minute time frame.

http://www.dallasnews.com/business/columnists/will-deener/20131013-algo-traders-execute-orders-faster-than-a-blink-of-the-eye.ece

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEAGdwHXfLQ

If you're a daytrader, like me, you have to understand the impact of algo trading. Most of trading is done by computers. Trading firms nowadays don't have "traders", they have people sitting in front of monitors, just to monitor the computers trading.

Imo you can still create an edge as a retail trader.

watch option charts on the high liquid stocks, that's where market moves are made. Massive volume on options need to be ofsetted by purchase of the underlying bu the marketmakers. Hence options direct price movement of the underlying, not the other way around.

I've asked Worden numerous times to include option chains for charting, big shortcome imo.

quick example:

I bought GOOG options minutes before the fed; look at the large volume spikes before the fed:

but algos are programmed to look for patterns, among other things. 

Watch the 113% extension, you will be amazed how many times, just after a breakout, the stock reverses at the 113%, and thus taking out stops, and leaving tons of frustrated "breakout" traders in the dust.

Its pretty much just computers trading any more.  Who knows when an algorithm goes bat$hit....