Wave of Volatile Trading Unsettles U.S. Markets

Source: The New York Times

United States stock markets were thrown into turmoil on Wednesday morning after more than 100 stocks were hit with a surge of volatile and unexpected trading immediately after markets opened.

The New York Stock Exchange said later in the morning that it was reviewing "irregular trading" that occurred soon after the 9:30 a.m. opening bell in 148 stocks listed on the exchange. Many of the nation's most popular stocks were among those that saw extreme price swings, including Citigroup, Bank of America and American Airlines.

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The event draws renewed attention to the increasing fragility of the United States stock markets as they have grown more fragmented and reliant on high-speed-trading firms like Knight. The volatility recalled the so-called flash crash of May 6, 2010, when the entire American market dropped nearly 10 percent in about a quarter of an hour.

Read more: http://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/08/02/business/unusual-volume-roils-early-trading-in-some-stocks.xml

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4 replies	Author	Time	Post
Wave of Volatile Trading Unsettles U.S. Markets (Original post)	alp227	Aug 2012	OP
i don't like the looks of this	TrogL	Aug 2012	#1
Nope, it's not a bug or anything like that...	amerciti001	Aug 2012	#2
Don't bother ...	dtom67	Aug 2012	#3
Nothing surprises me with this shell game.	sarcasmo	Aug 2012	#4

Response to alp227 (Original post)

Wed Aug 1, 2012, 03:43 PM

TrogL (31,287 posts)

1. i don't like the looks of this

Could be one of several scenarios including a bug in the trading software or an outside influence like China.

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Response to alp227 (Original post)

Wed Aug 1, 2012, 07:31 PM

amerciti001 (144 posts)

2. Nope, it's not a bug or anything like that...

It's someone just testing the waters to see just how they can manipulate the systems and make gains quickly.

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Response to alp227 (Original post)

Wed Aug 1, 2012, 08:33 PM

dtom67 (416 posts)

3. Don't bother ...

God bless the Algos....

The Market hasn't behaved properly in years.

Now, you can have a spate of bad economic data and the market will go up because the Market expects central bank intervention ( i.e. QE2, LTRO, Operation Twist, et al ) or because the big banks are so big that they can "squeeze" short-sellers out of their positions.

My poor 401k ....

God bless the Algos...

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Response to alp227 (Original post)

Wed Aug 1, 2012, 10:58 PM

sarcasmo (13,550 posts)

4. Nothing surprises me with this shell game.

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