The sharp falls in European equity markets on Monday and Tuesday, which were exacerbated by the actions of Société Générale as it unwound huge loss-making positions, led to a quadrupling of average daily trading volumes on European futures exchanges.
Traders said the French lender was forced to unwind a huge upwards bet on Dow Jones Eurostoxx 50 index futures, involving perhaps as many as 1.4 million contracts at â¬10 ($15) a point.
