Thread: The reason for the big drop at 2:47 p.m.

Over 100 point range today on the SPX, no not the DOW, the SPX!!! That is just freakish

That is amazing - the fat finger order that took the Dow down 980 was supposed to happen.

Ok, so what happened at 3:00 PM eastern today? That's a deep valley right there!

Edit: Found an article

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- In one of the most gut-wrenching hours in Wall Street history, the Dow plunged almost 1,000 points Thursday, before recovering some, as on a technical glitch in the trading of Procter & Gamble stock and fears about the European debt crisis spreading

http://money.cnn.com/2010/05/06/mark...pt=T1&iref=BN1

Originally Posted by tsptalk

That is amazing - the fat finger order that took the Dow down 980 was supposed to happen.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Tradin...82061.html?x=0

what a silly excuse... the "B" isn't even adjacent to the "M"... if it was one fat finger, he meant to enter 9 Nillion shares. What was his name Tourre or Chubopolus?

Originally Posted by fedgolfer

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Tradin...82061.html?x=0

what a silly excuse... the "B" isn't even adjacent to the "M"... if it was one fat finger, he meant to enter 9 Nillion shares. What was his name Tourre or Chubopolus?

Maybe his keyboard has a faulty 0 key?

Zero key would make more sense. I've never worked in the floor, but all those tablets and keyboards, it doesn't appear those guys ever use the letters except for the ticker symbols. sounds like a load of baklava.

Originally Posted by fedgolfer

Zero key would make more sense. I've never worked in the floor, but all those tablets and keyboards, it doesn't appear those guys ever use the letters except for the ticker symbols. sounds like a load of baklava.

I agree. Something smells.

But if they follow the money, they will find out what really happened. But they won't try hard since they were the ones who did it, and they are now running off with the loot.

The trading firm that caused the drop?

Citigroup.

"TOO BIG".

When one guy, at one desk, can push one key, and cause a 1,000 point drop in the Dow,...

Can you say "Too big to fail?"

http://www.cnbc.com/id/36999239

Trading Error at Major Firm Blamed For Selloff


Published: Thursday, 6 May 2010 | 4:21 PM ET

By: CNBC.com with Reuters

A human trading error at a major firm was the root cause of Thursday's sudden, 9 percent selloff in U.S. stocks, sources told CNBC.

Multiple sources said a trader entered the letter "b"—as in "billion"—when he or she meant to type "m," for "million," shortly before 2:47 p.m. New York time.

U.S. stocks plunged suddenly, briefly by more than 9 percent, before pulling back to a near 3 percent drop, as investor worries mounted that Greece's debt problems could spread.
Sources also told CNBC that the firm in question is Citigroup.

Citigroup said it has no evidence of a bad trade but it is investigating the situation.
The New York Stock Exchange reported there were no computer glitches in its systems Thursday.
Separately, Nasdaq said it was working with other major markets to review the market activity that occurred between 2:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.
© 2010 CNBC.com

Break them up into little pieces.

Tiny little pieces, please.

"B" or "M" on the keyboard shouldn't matter- whether it's a billion shares, or a million shares, if someone can push one button, and the stock market sees that Citigroup is selling a billion shares of anything, and thinks it's a real order- then Citigroup is simply TOO BIG to have placing orders.

Break them up. All the very large trading companies. Break them up into little pieces.

Now.

I'd settle for bringing the old Glass-Stegall back.

caveat: I don't buy the trading error for one second.

According to Jim Cramer..the massive drop of almost a 1000 points was only for about 3 minutes and once the M and the B thing was straightened out, the market bounce back..

trading error?

Somebody just made a gazillion dollars.

I don't know who- but somebody did.

Mark those words.