The market was already a bit fragile on 6 May 2010, with the Greek debt crisis growing and a General Election taking place in the UK. The sudden, blunt release of the E-Minis slammed into the market and sent high-frequency traders haywire. The futures contracts being sold soon swamped any natural demand and the high-frequency traders began to swap them around among themselves. In the fourteen seconds between 2:45:13 and 2:45:27 over 27,000 contracts were passed between these automatic traders. This alone equalled the volume of all other trading.
