Man Im glad I trade futures. I know the CBOT has had some problems but when they go down at least you can hedge on the ES. And yesterday was silky smooth on both the CME and CBOT and I was nervous and had tight stops on all orders just in case it did go down. I know one thing--I made a small fortune and if the CBOT can handle it then with all the technology out there the NYSE should be able to handle it too. The DAX and FTSE had major quantities of trading and they stayed online w/o "glitches." I personally think that Bernake has or was given a remote by Greenspan (somewhat like a garage door opener) to stop or slow down the bleeding of the market.
What if we had kept going down? Would you be asking the same question? Edit: this question is posed to the OP.
If there weren't glitches that created compressed, large scale moves, over short periods of time, because the system had failed to keep up, no.
The point the op is trying to make (imo) is that the price quotes were not accurate, nor were they today for that matter. The exchanges can't handle the volume, there were out of sequence orders all day long and then they extend the close past 4pm so they can play catch up. If you can't rely on the price quote being accurate how can you trade with confidence? You wouldn't trade using 15 minute delayed quotes would you? That's basicly what we've been doing the past two days. The 416 pt drop is nothing compared to what another terrorist attack on our financial markets would do, how's your confidence level in the exchanges being able to handle a scenario like that? I can't understand why so many people have brushed this off or failed to even see it.
Exactly. Thanks TM. Additionally, many stops may not have been triggered had the system kept up with buy and sell orders, because it's possible that prices dropped further than they ordinarily would have.
Obviously this is of concern. However, the original poster is implying that because the NYSE couldn't handle the volume the market tanked (and I don't buy it). If the NYSE had problems again today, why didn't the market tank again? I think the market was just ready for a fall.
No, you are misunderstanding the point. I am not saying the glitch caused the market plunge. I am saying it is possible, and maybe even likely, that the glitch caused prices to fall lower and faster than they ordinarily would have. If buy/sell orders were quickly and evenly matched, without a bottleneck forming, prices of specific stocks may not have fallen as low as they did. And if that's true, think about the economic consequences to their portfolio, especially in cases where the stock subsequently rose or even closed higher on the day. And if that's true, people got stopped out when they ordinarily would not have.