Hi, My name is Dr. Ross Alloway, and I'm doing some research for an article on the cognition of information management. I noticed that there has been some discussion on fat finger trading. I have a few questions and would be very grateful for any responses. 1. Can you describe a time when you fat fingered and what may have contributed to id? 2. How common you think it is? Does everyone do it eventually? 3.What role does "information overload" play in the fat finger? 4. What does your desk look like? Multiple screens? Cluttered? Multiple programs running? 5. How much of a role does multi-tasking play in fat fingering? If you are willing to talk more in depth, I would be very grateful if you would contact me.
About the only mistake I make nowadays is placing a sell when when trying to exit a short or buying when I mean to sell my long. Other than that I cannot recall any other "fat finger" moments. Recall a story I was told about a guy reading the paper at his desk, and the bottom of the paper was brushing the keyboard. He looked up to see he was very long/short some stock (hot keys). Traded with another guy that entered the wrong numbers into an OO automated program and lost 1,000's.
You can easily find your answers to your questions via Google. Tons of information via keywords like "Fat Finger Market Crash" or "Fat Finger Volatility Spikes" or "Fat Finger Trades". http://www.google.com As to answering 1) and 4)...most here are retail traders. Thus, I'm not sure if your question is aimed at institutional traders or retail traders or both. If aimed at institutional traders...just do a research of CNBC or Bloomberg video archives of their trader interviews that occurred soon after any particular "Fat Finger" market reactions. There's a lot of good information there for your research.
Traded with another guy that entered the wrong numbers into an OO automated program and lost 1,000's. [/B][/QUOTE] This is very interesting. Why do you think he entered in the wrong numbers? Why did he not check it before completing the order? If he did check it, why would he have completed the order?
1. Can you describe a time when you fat fingered and what may have contributed to id? contributed to id? Can you???
in pre-market, often those guys trick you with similar ask/bid, for example, ask 3.67, bid 5.69, if not careful, you maythink the bid is 5.67. plus, some trading platform has bugs or defaults, like TWS, if you want to buy, you hit ask, and a buy order is created, if you did not check, you may buy at the ask, that is 5.69, instantly you lose lot. those easy to enter feature sometimes are bad if not careful. though convenient/quick, but should use it with careful configuration (not let feature in charge atsome particular time). just like ABS in car, used it improperly, cause accident easily. as you know, we are human beings, make mistake is very common. fat fingers do happen, most caused by subconcious "take it granted" thoughts, you did not check the order "you subciously suppose the order is right".
now available during regular hours creating appearance of locked market is a very popular bots game. f** SOB's
I make fat finger mistakes all the time. I just made one a few minutes ago and I made two today. Its usually just putting in a wrong digit, maybe a buy order at 13.2 instead of 12.2. Usually they don't really matter, because I primarily use orders that execute based on 1% of total volume traded, and I notice them right away. A few times I use limit orders in the after market or in options, and they do cost me, upwards of a few grand.