Stock halted due to volatility with just a few hundered shares traded?

Discussion in 'Trading' started by BaconFat, Aug 7, 2019.

  1. BaconFat

    BaconFat

    Weird thing today. I put in a market order to cover some shares of a short position, and after it didn't go through, I called my broker to find out what was going on. I was told there was a temporary halt issued by Nasdaq due to volatility.

    It's a very sparsely traded stock of late. When I checked the volume after my order finally went through, I saw there were only 740 shares traded (500 of which came from my order).

    What I don't get is how a stock with 6.9 million shares and a 4 million+ float could be halted for volatility with just 240 shares traded. How is that even possible?
     
  2. How far did you move the stock? What was the bid/ask spread?
     
    tommcginnis likes this.
  3. Metamega

    Metamega

    tommcginnis likes this.
  4. BaconFat

    BaconFat

    The bid/spread is quite large - $.40
    Oddly enough though, my order didn't move the stock at all. It's CNFR btw
     
  5. qlai

    qlai

    Which one? First one was rejected, no?
     
  6. BaconFat

    BaconFat

    No, it was just on hold until after the trading pause.
     
  7. qlai

    qlai

    There's a matching period during the halt, just like at the open, I believe. So your order would not move anything but would be opportunity for someone willing to take other side.
     
  8. BaconFat

    BaconFat

    What I don't understand is why trading was paused to begin with.
     
  9. qlai

    qlai

    I don't know where you sent the order, but theoretically, it's possible that your order was front run and moved the market.
     
  10. BaconFat

    BaconFat

    Are you saying it moved it up before it even went through? I'm not sure I quite understand. The stock had dropped before the pause and then came out of the pause back up again.
     
    #10     Aug 7, 2019