another subprime victim, page-201

I think the Societe Generale French bank scandle increased the momentum of the selloff last week.

The dealer was up about 1b euros at the end of last year and almost breakeven when he was detected. Apparently the bank started to unwind their fraudulent long exposure at the worst possible time last Monday. So about 4b+ long positions were unwound and remember the US was closed and the selloff started with the cac and then the dax. News probably leaked as there's no way that it could be kept quiet.

And also explains the strenght of the snapback once the news was public.