Globex was prematurely shut down at 2:55 (CST). The following was posted on the CME website. February 8, 2002 - Due to technical difficulties with disseminating market data information, GLOBEX markets were halted at 2:55 P.M. CST. They are scheduled to reopen for trading Sunday at 5:30 P.M. I expect many traders were unable to exit their positions. Does anyone know what happened?
I said in another post that the quotes were different yesterday. I was gone before they shut down, fortunately. Did it shut down without notice? Does anybody know what happens in these situations? Could you get stuck in a trade?
You could easily get stuck in a trade. I was long (of course) - just a few contracts, and was watching very carefully -- I knew we were approaching the cash close and the rally was losing steam, and I had my finger over the transmit to send my liquidating order, which was a limit sell to 1449. By this point, IB's prices had stopped updating, but they were still updating on other sources. IB had put out a bulletin that prices on globex were frozen and it would be resolved shortly, and that trading was still available. Last trades were around 1451 or 1542 at the time, then I suddenly saw some weird prices in very rapid succession -- trades at 1444 and 51 and 47. I panicked and hit the Transmit, and got filled at 49. About 2 minutes later, I saw a news item on bloomberg that Globex had shut down early at 2:55pm, and 5 minutes after that, a note from IB came up saying that Globex had shut early. In the minutes that followed, I watched the ND futures traded up to 1460 before settling at 1454. Afterwords, I learned that the crazy prices I saw were from people panicking in response to the CME's announcement of an early Globex shutdown. Now the question is, how can we get those messages? IB's message was later than Bloomberg's and also REDI+'s, both of which came after the crazy prices which allegedly were in response to the CME's announcement. How can we get those messages right away?
I've seen globex go down a few times. It's great reason to trade emini's in 5's so you can cover it in the pit when globex goes down.
Cdntrader I guess you mean an offsetting trade. Would this require another broker or is it possible to do this through IB?
Easyrider: In a perfect world you could use IB, but can you actually get through to the "help" desk in time? Doubtful.
from J Lothian newsletter: Globex had an early close on Friday due to a problem with market data. It was determined that the problem could not be fixed before the regular close, thus a 2:55 pm close was forced. The CME staff is reviewing the problem and has cut back broadcast market depth to 5 deep on all contracts in the meantime to help prevent the problem from reoccurring again.
You can do this through IB, just place an order for the full, pit-traded S&P. Of course, if IB's order entry system goes down then you can only offset if you have another broker. The problem is further complicated if you have a stop or limit order with IB and the market trades at your price, you won't know for certain if you were filled or not, so offsetting becomes more difficult. This has happened to me before with IB. My emergency plan, if I'm ever caught in a bad situation and cannot offset because IB cannot confirm if I am long or shot, is to simply go long an appropriate # of option straddles and lose a little premium.
I was reading through some of the posts regarding the globex halt around 14:55 on Feb 8th and was surprised to see that your order entry did not provide you with an alert in realtime that trading was going to halt about 5 minutes before? While I dont beleive it is a requirement we provided that realtime notification to all our clients.
How would the margin work in an offset trade? I imagine that if you were funded to trade mini's and then tried to trade a full contract, unless the margins offset there would be a problem and an even bigger one trying to hold over the weekend ( if they would even fill your order!!).