Slashdot Mirror
Stock Market Sell-Off Might Stem From Trader's Fat Finger
s122604 points out a CNBC story according to which "the catalyst for today's extraordinary price swing (at one point the Dow lost almost 9 percent in less than an hour) may have been because a trader entered a 'B' for billions instead of an 'M' for millions on a trade of Procter and Gamble: 'According to multiple sources, a trader entered a "b" for billion instead of an "m" for million in a trade possibly involving Procter & Gamble, a component in the Dow. (CNBC's Jim Cramer noted suspicious price movement in P&G stock on air during the height of the market selloff).' Unbelievable there are no safeguards to protect against this."
I can relate because one time I typed :q! instead of :w, losing about 5 minutes worth of typing. The typed text had sentimental value worth billions.
You might be happier with a Whisky and Prostitutes ETF. Consult your broker today.
Some people see disaster, some see a good buying opportunity ;-)
I believe you're referring to a Crisitunity.
Might be time to invest my money in something a little more solid, like canned food and ammunition.
Yes, because fat fingers and ammunition go together well...as long as you don't invest in a gun too.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
If they were running Vista, they would have to click through "Are you sure you want to do this?" and "Are you really sure you want to do this?" popups, as well as a popup of Clippy asking "It looks like you are trying to trigger a stock market panic. How can I help?" No fat-finger problems there!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Shouldn't this hot topic be debated on /. in, say, a week?
I can't be sure what happened to Procter and Gamble, but I just made a killing on pork bellies and orange juice!
.... or something. Shit, I always do that.
I always mess up some mundane detail."
Its not going to be an upgrade in broker software, but in broker hardware. And by that, I mean they are going to remove the fingers of the brokers.
--- He advocated thrift and hard work and disapproved of loose women who turned him down. ---
Obesity is destroying America!
Speculators would be driven out...a lot of day traders just pooped their pants. I'm buying men's underwear stocks.
So, you're admitting you're a speculator?
Louis: Looking good, Billy Ray!
Billy Ray: Feeling good, Louis!
Clippy: "Hi, I noticed you were trying to buy one billion shares of Proctor and Gamble even though there are less than a billion in existence. Would you like me to make that a shortcut for you?"
- For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat
On the Dvorak keyboard, B is right next to M. That said, I use Dvorak, and have never personally caused a stock market fiasco. Maybe I should change professions...
Hey, it looks like your trying to destroy Western Capitalism, would you like some help with that? (annoying paperclip)
You contradicted yourself in the title.
Naw, its Goldman Sachs selling their holdings to pay for lawyers.
The long term sandwich strategy pays off for the hungry investor.
Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
... a butherfucking mig bistake!
Have gnu, will travel.
Why would hitting 'i' be so bad? If he'd hit 's', he would need to do an inverse Laplace transform to set things straight. If he'd hit 'i', the transaction would have been imaginary anyway.
The Hacker's Guide To The Kernel: Don't panic()!
Clippy: "Hi, I noticed that you are arguing with an anthropomorphic office supply. Would you like to have a debate?"
- For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat
So, is that like the atheist end of the world where the invisible pink unicorn impales the FSM bringing about the unpocalypse? Or is it the day where everyone becomes completely non-judgmental towards each other to the point that, due to the complete lack of negative criticism, no matter how shitty or stupid or broken something is it just gets published/manufactured/etc. and civilization falls apart as buildings collapse, planes fall out of the sky, and kdawson is allowed complete control over slashdot's front page?
I spent the day in Vegas investing in futures contracts on green-chip investment products such as the "5," "6" and "8." Unfortunately the table went south about the same time as did P&G. But I didn't need a middleman, and I saved 100% on commission.