NASDAQ Trading Halted Due To "Technical Issue"

barlevg writes "The Wall Street Journal reports that trading was halted midday Thursday due to an as-yet unnamed technical issue. Says SEC spokesperson John Nester, 'We are monitoring the situation and in are close contact with the exchanges.'"

Comments

Hello tech support?

[Sponge Bath]

Have you tried turning it off and on again?

Re:Hello tech support?

[gforce811]

"3 times... You always tell me to do it 3 times."

- The Website Is Down (http://youtu.be/uRGljemfwUE)

Re:Hello tech support?

[605dave]

You have to restart it while holding down the option key. That will flush the cash.

Re:Hello tech support?

[UnknowingFool]

I don't know what you mean. It's working for me. [Unplugs coffee maker, plugs server back in]. --BOFH

MUAHAHAHAHA

[GameboyRMH]

Does this make anyone else happy for some reason?

Re:MUAHAHAHAHA

[lgw]

I'm not even sure what the stock market *does*. I don't think many people do. Including the people who run it. The higher echelons of finance are so many layers of abstraction away from what the common people deal with, it's hard to fit the two ends together.

This isn't about some mysterious "higher echelons of finance ". The majority of Americans own stock, directly or though 401k or pension plans. Before the 2008 crash is was nearly 2/3s. And yet many people are in the same boat as you.

I think this is a terrible problem with education in America. People are afraid of the market, don't understand it, don't want to understand it, but that's due to simple lack of education. And it's important to know the basics, since it will likely affect your standard of living in retirement.

Just like there's a certain minimum amount you need to know about how cars work before you can drive safely - not all that much, but there are a several hours about it in most drivers ed classes - there's a certain minimum amount you need to know about how markets and investments work. Where's the public education for that? Are we so intent on class warfare that we'll cut off our nose to spite our face here?

Re:MUAHAHAHAHA

[msauve]

"I'm not even sure what the stock market *does*."

Think of it this way. It's like Las Vegas. Except it's legal everywhere and there's less oversight to keep people honest. Oh, and if you are dishonest, they just take back a portion of your ill-gotten gains, instead of breaking your legs.

Re:MUAHAHAHAHA

[Billly Gates]

I'm not even sure what the stock market *does*. I don't think many people do. Including the people who run it. The higher echelons of finance are so many layers of abstraction away from what the common people deal with, it's hard to fit the two ends together.

This isn't about some mysterious "higher echelons of finance ". The majority of Americans own stock, directly or though 401k or pension plans. Before the 2008 crash is was nearly 2/3s. And yet many people are in the same boat as you.

I think this is a terrible problem with education in America. People are afraid of the market, don't understand it, don't want to understand it, but that's due to simple lack of education. And it's important to know the basics, since it will likely affect your standard of living in retirement.

Just like there's a certain minimum amount you need to know about how cars work before you can drive safely - not all that much, but there are a several hours about it in most drivers ed classes - there's a certain minimum amount you need to know about how markets and investments work. Where's the public education for that? Are we so intent on class warfare that we'll cut off our nose to spite our face here?

Yeah, that was before people discovered. Now everyone is doing it and these companies can not grow anymore and no more investors will come in to boost the shareprice.

Shit most do not even pay dividends anymore! That is a terrible buy if you ask me. That is like me selling you a vacation home where I keep all the rent money and you get nothing. Would you agree to such a deal even after you buy it?! Hell no. ... but don't worry Johhny down the street just may buy it so you can still get rich ... wink wink.

Now it is Gold and bitcoins. As more people buy them the value goes up. Yes, this is gambling. The more someone learns about the stock market the more they will see how rich computer trading high frequency traders steal your money and how overvalued some of these companies are. In the old days more stocks meant these companies could use the cash to buy more factories to make more money and you would see it every quarter as a solid 30 year investment.

Today it is traded in 1/10000th of a second by scammers and the traders still pay themselves pre financial deregulation like it is their money for compensation rather than yours. You are getting rob unless you know what the hell you are doing.

There are other investments that pay more today and unless these companies can grow why invest. The pre-IPO new guys starting out you say? Well the investors get the same shares for 1/4th the price before it hits the market. It is inflated on opening day. You simply can not win these hustlers.

Re:MUAHAHAHAHA

[edibobb]

No, derivatives (such as mortgage backed securities) and options are constructs by high-class insecure gambling addicts. While you can gamble on the stock market, but most people (and institutions) use it for investment, or long-term bets. One notable difference between a casino and the stock market is that in the stock market, the odds are in the your favor.

Re:MUAHAHAHAHA

[ErichTheRed]

"I think this is a terrible problem with education in America. People are afraid of the market, don't understand it, don't want to understand it, but that's due to simple lack of education. And it's important to know the basics, since it will likely affect your standard of living in retirement."

I agree, but I can also see the other side of it. Way back before technology made it possible to do day trading or HFT, it was actually a market that most educated people could get their heads around. And if you're a Buffett-style "value investor" who picks good companies and hangs onto stocks for a long time, a lot of the noise is still filtered out. But, I do think that online trading, instant access to information and cheap trades contribute to volatility. Volatility filters back to the average investor in the form of their account balance wildly swinging up and down for reasons that aren't 100% clear to them.

Some examples:
Investment buy decision process, old school: "Hmm, the WSJ basically reprinted an IBM press release showing new and exciting products. I think I will buy 100 shares of the company and see where it goes. I will call my broker in the morning and pay $100 in fees, then I will own and hold these shares to see if they increase in value."
Investment buy decision process, new school: "OMG, my trading platform's tech sector chart just blinked a brighter shade of green, looks like IBM is in play. Click, buy 100 shares IBM, 85 shares CSCO, 62 shares MSFT, 90 shares RHAT all for $7.95 or free if I trade hundreds of times a month."

Investment sell decision process, old school: "Hmm. the WSJ article I just read says IBM isn't keeping up with competitors. I've made a bit of money on this over the last 10 years, time to sell. Let's call the broker in the morning and maybe I'll do some research on where else to put the profits."
Investment sell decision process, new school: "OMG, IBM missed their quarterly earnings by one cent. Wow, they suck. Sell sell sell! Twitter, "OMG, #IBM is #toast, get out now!!!!!' Stock message boards, "Smart money is in Cisco." Facebook: "Selling my IBM shares now, suggest you do the same." Wow, IBM is down 25% for the day, I wonder why?

If I were running a company that didn't need access to capital that only the stock market would bring, I'd never go public even if it meant Easy Street for me forever. Once a company does that, they will NEVER have control over anything they do.

Re:MUAHAHAHAHA

[ebno-10db]

I think this is a terrible problem with education in America. People are afraid of the market, don't understand it, don't want to understand it, but that's due to simple lack of education.

It's not due to lack of education, but due to the simple fact that the stock market really is scary, and that's exacerbated by the fact that people have less faith in our basic financial institutions than they used to.

The stock market is scary because it can swing up and down wildly. The only sound advice for most people (myself included) is that over the long term (decades) it almost always has a better yield than other investments. Buy some low cost index stocks and hang on to them. If you think you can do better than that, you better make sure it's not just vanity, or a few lucky outcomes feeding your confirmation bias. Very few people can beat the market with pick and choose. Timing? Even Warren Buffett avoids that. He's a long term value investor, but really doing that well takes serious research (that's what he and Charlie do all day).

It doesn't help that people have lost faith in our basic financial institutions either. I don't think that rationally applies as much to the stock market. HFT raises a lot of eyebrows (likely for good reason) but for any long term investment its effect is very small. Banks (investment and depository), insurance companies, etc. are another story. There is no secret that major banks and insurance companies got bailed out by the Treasury, and even more, the Federal Reserve. The capitalists, who preach free markets and rugged individualism, got saved by nanny government. To add insult to injury, they were largely being saved from problems that they had created themselves. Both Bush and Obama bent over backwards not to prosecute criminal activity (see William K. Black for details). Meanwhile everybody else lost their houses and their jobs, and the job situation still ain't looking too good. While that isn't, at least strictly speaking, the stock market, is it any wonder that people don't trust financial markets and think the game is rigged.

Are we so intent on class warfare

"Class warfare" gets my vote for the most hackneyed and ultimately meaningless term of the century. What exactly is "class warfare"? From it's reflexive overuse, I can only infer that it means that any discussion of economic conflicts of interest between people of different wealth and income levels should be forbidden as crass, petty, uninformed, counter-productive, and most importantly, something that people who use the term "class warfare" don't want to discuss.

Re:MUAHAHAHAHA

[JustOK]

When I sell high, I always get the munchies.

Re:MUAHAHAHAHA

[dkleinsc]

One notable difference between a casino and the stock market is that in the stock market, the odds are in the your favor.

Not any more, for 3 reasons:
1. There is now the equivalent of the House on the stock markets, in the form a few banks who control the majority of assets.
2. The largest investment banks can and do rig almost everything, from International interest rates to aluminum commodity pricing to municipal bonds.
3. HFT combined with premiums paid for slightly early releases of information mean that by the time an ordinary investor has heard about a serious problem in one of their holdings, the damage is already done because someone else found out and reacted to it 2 seconds earlier. In other words, the true price of your assets is based on information you can't see.

Re:MUAHAHAHAHA

[dkleinsc]

"Class warfare" gets my vote for the most hackneyed and ultimately meaningless term of the century. What exactly is "class warfare"? From it's reflexive overuse, I can only infer that it means that any discussion of economic conflicts of interest between people of different wealth and income levels should be forbidden as crass, petty, uninformed, counter-productive, and most importantly, something that people who use the term "class warfare" don't want to discuss.

"Class warfare" does mean something: It means that poor and middle-class people are complaining and reacting to being shafted by rich people, but the person who's writing wants to make it seem like those complaints or reactions are somehow illegitimate or will lead to Stalinism in America.

It's Just a Casino Anyway...

[DexterIsADog]

...which is why I keep all my money in bitcoins.

I feel indifferent.

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm an old school (1930s era) value investor - Ben Graham type of investor.

I don't give shit. I don't care what the know nothings on CNBC have to say (I don't think Becky is all that, BTW) nor do I care what Warren Buffet has to say - publicly.

I got an alpha of 20% right now and it's freaking me out because I'm thinking there's something wrong with my calcs. No, overall I'm up like 50+% year to date but I'm freaking out because i KNOW - I KNOW - there's luck involved and I WANT to weed it out so I can plan better.

If I were a Hedge fund or mutual fund manager, I'd be interviewed in the press and folks would be patting me on the back for my "brilliance" - fucking morons- all of them.

I got LUCKY and I'm too stupid to figure out where!!

Re:I feel indifferent.

[Anonymous Coward]

Smart man. Playing the day-trading game against the HFTs is like playing chess against Deep Blue. Might as well have a weight-lifting contest with a forklift.

Right about now ...

[bizitch]

.... there is a group of engineers ...

- Flop sweating their asses off
- Furiously searching their email for that ass-covering memo to their boss about the pricey "redundant this" or "redundant that" that the boss was too cheap to get
- Wondering if there is enough alcohol on earth for what they will need later tonight

Re:Right about now ...

[Etherwalk]

.... there is a group of engineers ...

- Flop sweating their asses off
- Furiously searching their email for that ass-covering memo to their boss about the pricey "redundant this" or "redundant that" that the boss was too cheap to get
- Wondering if there is enough alcohol on earth for what they will need later tonight

This is the stock exchange. "Redundant this" and "Redundant that" were in the budget, and alcohol is plentiful.

LET CHAOS REIGN

[GameboyRMH]

Quick, everybody spread rumors about shutdowns and buyouts, those Wall Street fatcats will shit their pants! >:D

I don't understand the need for high-speed trading

[runeghost]

Seriously. Is there any real need (beyond that for connected players to be able skim money off the top) for anyone to be able to sell and buy stock (or commodities) in a tiny fraction of a second, instead of say, once every fifteen minutes or even longer?

Goldman must have lost money on a trade

[JoeyRox]

In case you didn't know Goldman is never supposed to lose money on a trade, which is why they can report 100+ days of consecutive trading profits, which is a mathematical impossibility in a non-rigged market.

Re:I don't understand the need for high-speed trad

[alexander_686]

Sure.

In the old days (80s, 90s), when it was seconds, the middle men grabbed 12.5 to 25 cents per share. Before then, when it was minutes, they would grab 50 cents. Costs for the average small investor have fallen by over 90%. If you invest in index funds your costs have fallen by over 95%. (But wait you say – I don’t trade my index funds. Look at your funds expense ratio, pull out the supplementary prospectus information on what portion of that is trading costs for the past 20 years, and gap.)

Or, to put it another way, would you rather have dozens of HFT fighting for your business or an oligopoly of clique, cozy partnerships. Not saying it is perfect but that it is an improvement.

Don't forget about...

[tool462]

... the group of MBAs ...

  - Flop sweating their asses of
  - Furiously searching their email for that ass-covering memo where the IT guy said "Yeah, this should work"
  - Wondering if there is enough coke on earth to get them through the rest of the day

For these guys, there are only two universal truths:
    1) This is absolutely, positively, 100% the IT guy's fault
    2) He can not fix this without the IT guy.
The impotent rage would be palpable.

Re:I don't understand the need for high-speed trad

[runeghost]

Seriously. Is there any real need (beyond that for connected players to be able skim money off the top) for anyone to be able to sell and buy stock (or commodities) in a tiny fraction of a second, instead of say, once every fifteen minutes or even longer?

Time is money. Time passes as new information is acquired or transmitted. Shorter time intervals will therefore always be desirable for making a market more efficient and to accurately reflect reality. The more time it takes to buy and sell, the more risk there is in buying or holding stock, because the stock is less liquid and its value can change dramatically in very little time.

Wait, wait, wait. I'm grokking some of the other points in favor of high-frequency trading, but are you actually claiming that the stock market reflects reality?

Re:Hmmmm

[runeghost]

The NSA must be installing new taps.

Re:I don't understand the need for high-speed trad

[lgw]

You don't make money by "getting in the middle of slower orders" in any risk-free way. Markets don't work that way. You do make money by being the first to trade on "news", but better that than insider trading (i.e., better to trade 1 ms after than 1 week before). You do make money by taking a little risk as a market maker, but HFT has squeezed profits there very thin.

Do you have any idea how tiny $1 B/year is compared to the amount of stock that trades each year? I'm sure profits are much higher, just on first-after-news trading, and that doesn't mean there's a problem.

When I trade (being a little guy who doesn't follow the markets constantly) I get a better price thanks to HFT: the bid-ask gap is tiny these days, often 1 cent, and my broker makes $10 on the same trade the HFT guy makes $0.01 or so.

Re:obvious

[chill]

Specifically, NASDAQ runs UTP from NYSE-Euronext.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Trading_Platform

UTP runs on Linux [pdf link].

https://nysetechnologies.nyx.com/sites/technologies.nyx.com/files/L5756_NYSE%20Tech%20UTP_IM_OST_100105b.pdf

Re:It's Apple's fault

[Billly Gates]

Since these insane investors want core algorithmic changes made that could ruin the whole economy done in a matter of hours

It's just the stock market, a drop in the market isn't going to ruin the economy. 1929 looked bad, but the economic problems happened first, then the stock market dropped. Look at black Monday (1987) for an example of what happens with flash trading crashes......not much.

You are aware that something insane like 1/7th of the worlds money is on these systems right? Not 1929 at all.

Theoretical logic error where a less than instead of a less than or equal too is in one of these HTC systems.

Lets say this is a big one with trillions and trillions to use like Bank of America and Goldman Sachs. I dated a woman who used to work for BOA and she told me the books have 40 trillion in assets that are processed nightly on their computers. The US GDP is only $14 trillion for the record on how big of anumber this is. Mainly inflated home values spiked this as they assets were really liabilities when the housing market crashed.

Now lets say in 1/10000th of a second it shorted 15 companies stocks by accident by only 10%. Now the Goldman Sachs computer sees this and it has $15 trillion to play with. What will it do? If it is quick and short it will quickly repurchase them and sell them also at 1/10000th of a second. But it sees this on 5 other fortune 500 companies. It sells fast. Now the slower trading firms computers see this in Chicago and the 2nd tier financial systems see these 2 systems quickly selling fast as now 12 companies are affected.

What do they do Sell to keep what is has and so and so on. A full 2 seconds pass and what happens? The world's weath is gone your 401k is history, the treasury is insolvent as bonds crashed, banks are insolvent, as they always owe more than they have in assets which all their debts are traded with each as assets collecting interest.

Seems laughable just 10 years ago but this great recession and what is happening recently shows otherwise. Money is just generated out of thin air by debts and used to buy stocks which fund your 401ks and investments.

What would happen today is a totally collapse of civilation as businesses rely on computers and debt to function if you have taken any finance course. I do not mean this as an insult or to imply anything by the way as I have taken college level finance and it was shocking how answering using your profits to fund your expenses is the wrong answer. To obtain credit and hold onto your cash to raise your shareprice is always the right answer and even small business today with no shareholders relies on IOUs to stay in business unlike in 1929.

With no money 98% of all businesses would close. This is why the bailout happened in 2009 despite very angry resentment from voters.

So it is not inconcievable that a flash crash can wipe out a lot. This is why the Glass-Seagul act was written to prevent banks from being vulnerable with a crash which is now sadly appealed.

Is this related to the Hindenburg Omen?

[stewsters]

I was searching for Archer quotes, but I accidentally found this:
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/breakout/hindenburg-omen-very-ominous-high-technical-warning-sign-163004190.html
I wonder if there is a relation?

Dang that NSA server crashed?

[bobbied]

You KNOW the NSA has a server (or two) in the middle of all this.. Makes ya wonder eh?