I am often an apologist for our market structure. I believe in the efficiencies of eletronic trading and competition. I have a deep affection for U.S. equity markets but perhaps this affection is a bit misplaced. My apprenticeship in equity trading was at Datek Online, where our mission was to bring retail investors the same type of cost structure and trading tools that were only available to institutional players.
But like another famous claim of Mission Accomplished, we may have created as much danger as freedom.
The events over the last two years – and 2012 alone – must force anyone with even the most basic level of skepticism to question the current state of U.S. equity markets. Our intermediaries are failing us.
It is simply astounding that the type activity that occurred yesterday at the opening bell went on for minutes upon minutes without some real time intervention from regulators, exchanges or brokers. All I keep saying to cheer myself up is thank heavens it was just money.
As an industry, it seems we are not collectively implementing measures that would effectively protect our public from this kind of egregious error.
If limit up/down would have dampened the impact, then shame on us for moving at a snail's pace toward its reality.
Single-stock circuit breakers do not kick in until well after the market open, wild swings that occur at the open do not trigger the halts. And ironically, the original expiration date for the single stock circuit breaker pilot program was Tuesday, July 31.
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8 Comments to "The Whipping Post":
peroniriserva63
02 August 2012
Thank you for that honest opinion. Feel very sorry for the 2000 employees at Knight today. Lets hope someone on the regulatory side is watching and listening to market practitioners instead of blithely ignoring informed opinion over ill judged poltiical rhetoric after this catastrophe.
Comments (15)
gmacsweeney@techweb.com
02 August 2012
Adam, I agree. What's really scary about what has happened throughout 2012, is the collective response from the industry. To market observers, and most importantly investors, the response sounds something like this:
"Woops. We had another system error. Something went wrong, but we don't know what it was. But we'll figure it out...eventually. Hopefully, we'll figure it out before the next error, because we all know there will be another error. We try to test, really we do. But there is just soooooo much to test and there's no way we can make sure everything is working the way it should. Anyway, keep trading, because there's nothing wrong! (that we know of right now)."
No wonder investors are running away.
Anonymous
02 August 2012
what happened to "
Rule 15c3-5 — Risk Management Controls for Brokers or Dealers with Market Access
"
yesterday?
shamlet76
02 August 2012
what is this whoops? it was business as usual. they short against investors, they short against the economy. the big mistake was that the puter was programmed to buy in the short.
Also this: “Trades executed 30% or more above or below the NYSE/NYSE MKT opening price today between 09:30:00 a.m. and 10:15:00 a.m. ET will be busted.”
Wizzard Software (WZE) at or above $4.68
China Cord Blood (CO) at or above $3.22
Reaves Utility Income Fund (UTG.RT) at or below $0.0497
E-House China Holdings (EJ) at or below $3.36
American Reprographics (ARC) at or above $5.71
Quicksilver Resources (KWK) at or above $5.91
so when were they going to buy in? you can see what they were shorting, what they were trying to buy in. if you check the symbols' histories, you can see where the short occurred. this is a directional trading house. they want your $ and mine. no company too small, that should be their motto. why are we tolerating them manipulating price with volume, manipulating price by not buying in on market deadlines. the SEC and the exchange should be investigating how they are fulfilling their marketmaker role. they are taking "liquidity" out of the market, a capital outflow from the market. parasitic, that's what they are.
they lost 30+% of market value yesterday with their own stock. they should. and their shortselling friends are only fairweather friends. knight has no friends and has been a friend to nobody.
this story is getting old for the investor. i am sitting back and watching the industry eat their children because the retail investor is not trading in any volume. i am watching the regulator NOT take action. all was fine when they were taking the retail investors' $? well, this does not work out for the retail investor.
Comments (149)
anonymole
02 August 2012
"As an industry, it seems we are not collectively implementing measures that would effectively protect our public from this kind of egregious error."
Would pirates attempt to ameliorate a system funneling them hoards of cash? Traders are tech pirates preying on investors large and small and care not for the broken lives they leave in their wake. Pirate's actions, like trader's actions are indefensible. Unfortunately, and unlike pirates, traders have power and position in the hierarchy of the industry. It's like giving Captain Henry Morgan the rights to set the rules of high seas warfare.
Comments (86)
asussman
02 August 2012
@anonymole While I respectfully disagree that the market is dominated by "pirates", intentionality is not necessary to cause harm. Incompetence is more harmful than evil.
Comments (159)
anonymole
02 August 2012
And incompetence certainly seemed to have carried the day yesterday. Or so it seems. The level of stupidity appears so high that I begin to question whether it was unintentional. Trade risk monitoring is paramount in the trading systems I'm familiar with, to see such egregious disregard for risk makes me think that other factors are at play here.
Comments (86)
anonymole
03 August 2012
Adam, per the pirate analogy: while the Knight schooner foundered on the rocks, obviously taking on water and sinking for 29 minutes, what group of "non-pirates" swooped in and picked her bones clean while she died? Had it carried on throughout the morning nary a cry of "foul" would have risen from these "non-pirates"; they would have gladly ground her into sea mist - given the chance. You can't deny that. And now that their largess is exposed, would said "non-pirates" ever agree, as a sign of faith between brethren, to break trades made at such a disadvantage to the Knight schooner? Never. Trades is trades, matey.
Knight was tied to the mast and, as your title states, "whipped."
Comments (86)