Holiday and low-liquidity sessions. Thin books exaggerate moves; the August 2024 and December 2018 drawdowns both happened in holiday-thinned markets.
What to watch: Exchange calendar; half-days. It arrives annual, and the effect typically lasts intraday.
It sits in tier 3 — Flows and mechanics: Moves prices without changing anything fundamental, on horizons from hours to weeks. Who is forced to buy or sell, and when. Ignore this tier and market moves will regularly look inexplicable.
Its neighbourhood
Everything this entry connects to directly. Click any point to follow it.
Also in Market mechanics, derivatives, and calendar
- Zero-days-to-expiry (0DTE) options
- Monthly and quarterly options expiration
- Index rebalances and reconstitution
- Month- and quarter-end rebalancing
- Seasonality and calendar effects
- Tax-loss harvesting and tax dates
- Market microstructure and liquidity
- Circuit breakers and trading halts
- Settlement, clearing, and margin requirements
- Fed communication blackout
- Corporate buyback blackout windows
- Investor conferences and analyst days
- Jackson Hole and set-piece speeches
- 24-hour and tokenised trading
- Tax refunds and payroll-day flows
- Earnings season timing and pre-announcements