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Computer Problem Caused Price Errors on NASDAQ

Posted by Zonk on from the that's-an-oops dept.

buckthorn writes "An article running on Yahoo News states: 'A computer problem at an unidentified stock trader caused erroneous, exaggerated prices -- some as high as $950 per share -- to be posted to the Nasdaq Stock Market Friday morning for 1,680 different stocks, a spokeswoman for the Nasdaq said.'"

3 of 160 comments (clear)

  1. "COMPUTER" error by whoever57 · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I just love those "computer errors". Did we jump intosome future world like that of of the Terminator, or The Matrix, where the robots are in control?

    It was either a programming error (human) or an operator error (human) or some other cause. OK, clearly hardware faults can cause data corruption, but this is really pretty rare and it's hard to believe that a hardware fault could cause such a widespread fault.

    --
    The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
    1. Re:"COMPUTER" error by Phisbut · · Score: 5, Insightful
      It was either a programming error (human) or an operator error (human) or some other cause.

      I love this quote :

      At the source of every error which is blamed on the computer you will find at least two human errors, including the error of blaming it on the computer.

      --
      After 3 days without programming, life becomes meaningless
      - The Tao of Programming
  2. I work for a fairly large electronic marketplace by djrok212 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I was actively involved in todays "mess." The root cause of the problem was related to the prices which were using for electronically making markets in stocks which did not have any trades yesterday. When there is no activety for a stock in a day, the price quote is always 0 x 1900. The median of these two numbers is 950. A firm who makes markets in ALOT of stocks, accidentally changed their systems to use the midpoint at yesterdays close instead of the normal final print. So they started putting up quotes at 950.00 thus causing the problem. All the trades 15% out of the market from the previous close were broken. The money wasn't "removed" from peoples accounts since the proceeds or loses from a buy or sale of stock aren't realized for atleast 3 days.