Anyone that thinks they are entitled to a 10% discount off the s&p because of a technical glitch is an a$$hole. Seems to be an epidemic. Deadbeat squatters blaming robosigners for their evictions. Stuff like that.
Guys, the NYSE does not do software upgrades in the middle of the day. End of story. Their explanation is BS, something else is behind the flash crash (ie. more HFT) but it wasn't a software upgrade.
I believe there was a problem and that they did software work, but to do it then instead of off-hours means it was an emergency patch. There is legit downtime after 4pm EST so that means they needed to get that patch in ASAP to plug a hole - only rational reason to do it then instead of when they would have 8+ hours to validate a patch in production.(e.g. around 10pm EST)
In my experience, there isn't a single enterprise customer that would roll out any type of patch in the middle of the day. The NYSE has the most important computers in the world, besides the ones that control the nuclear weapons. Adhoc patches just doesn't happen. What patch is so important that it couldn't wait a few hours until afterhours trading finished for the day? There isn't! These aren't Windows desktops that need an Adobe Acrobat patch. There are likely so many computers that make up the "exchange" that it would need to be rolled across banks of computers at a time. That's why all enterprise customers of any significance do massive testing of all patches before they roll it into production, and why they reserve only a few days a year for software patches. They don't upgrade their production computers very often on purpose! To think that the NYSE attributed a 10% drop of the most liquid, most traded ETF in the world to a software upgrade that they implemented in the middle of the trading day is a joke.
I realize its hip and cool to disagree with stock777, but he is right on this one (sans the name calling) Technical errors dont overide clearly erroneous. If it had printed down $1-2 thats another story, but 10% isnt fair for anyone.
at least we know now thare is decent support 10% lower thanks to brave guys that have done their homework and were left without compensation for showing their cards. That must feel really bad. :eek:
+100 Anyone who thinks that this kind of software patch could EVER be rolled out during the work-week, never mind during working hours, is simply devoid of clue. This is the sort of thing that is regression tested ad nauseam and only rolled out over the weekend but, only after it's been signed off by every BSD in upper management.