NASDAQ Halt Brings Back Flash Crash Concerns

Banking, finance, and taxes

Published: August 22, 2013 2:09 pm

Last Updated: August 22, 2013 2:48 pm

Do you remember the Flash Crash? NASDAQ OMX Group (NASDAQ: NDAQ) is proving yet again why there still needs to be some human control and interaction over the vast numbers of shares trading each day. The only good news is that this is not the same sort of halt from a Flash Crash.

The NASDAQ has been experiencing a trading halt in all major NASDAQ-listed securities, due to technical issues. Trading was halted shortly after Noon EST on Thursday. We have been told that the New York Stock Exchange, BATS and DirectEdge exchanges have also halted trading in NASDAQ-listed shares. The glitch is said to be tied to the quote dissemination system.

NASDAQ OMX originally said it planned to reopen trading for a 5-minute quote-only period, but the reality is that if one exchange is halted for trading it grinds trading in other exchanges down to a halt.

Thursday’s halt also came at a time when the NASDAQ was up over 31 points or about 0.9%. As of 2:00 PM EST trading on NASDAQ remains halted.

UPDATE: NASDAQ will resume trade at 3:10 PM EST… Whoops, Now they say 3:25 PM EST.

Here is how bad the situation is if you look at the image from NASDAQ Trader’s website.

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