SMART MONEY BAILS: INSTITUTIONS DUMP $8B IN STOCKS

There is a massive game of hot potato happening in the stock market right now. The absolute biggest players—think massive institutional funds—are selling off individual company stocks at a record pace, and everyday people are the ones buying them up.

Here is what is going on behind the scenes, in plain English:

* The Big Sell-Off: Large institutions just dumped $8.3 billion in single stocks in a single week. That is their second-biggest weekly sell-off in history.

* Who is Buying? While the big guys sold, everyday folks spent $1 billion buying the dip. Hedge funds also jumped in and bought $1.2 billion worth of stocks.

* Swapping Risk for Safety: The massive funds are not leaving the market completely. They are dropping individual company stocks, but they actually put $2.2 billion into safer, bundled stock funds (ETFs).

* The Bigger Picture: This is not a sudden panic. Over the last few months, these big institutions have quietly let go of $52 billion in individual stocks.

What it means:

Basically, the "smart money" is playing it very safe right now. They are stepping away from the risk of picking individual companies and passing those stocks over to regular, everyday buyers while moving their own cash into safer ETF bundles.