CNBC: A Citigroup Trader Made The Big Fat Finger Error

[underpants]

Source: Business Insider


Reports from CNBC and our own sources suggest that it was a Citigroup (C) trader that accidentally entered a sell BILLION-size sell trade, when they meant to do million.

Since the market came back and only ended down over 3%, all the focus now is on what happened. There's going to be an investigation into Proctor & Gamble (PG) trading, Accenture (ACN) and the market as a whole.





Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/cnbc-a-citigroup-trader-made-the-big-fat-finger-error-2010-5

[BrklynLiberal]

1. oops... Wonder what that trader will be doing for a living next year

[underpants]

8. They have to maintain "talent"

he will get a raise

[Roland99]

9. Providing crowd-size estimates for tea bagger protests

what else?

[BrklynLiberal]

28. That is funny!

Took me a second to get it..but when I did, I laughed out loud!!

[Roland99]

29. :-)

[Catshrink]

30. DUzy!!!

:rofl:

[bemildred]

2. Well ,this ought to restore everybodies faith in the magic hand of the market, eh? nt

[underpants]

10. .

[CountAllVotes]

3. how reassuring

I feel safe now. Buy, buy, buy, buy, buy, buy, buy ..............


:dem:

[neverforget]

4. Seriously, how on Earth can one trader cause so much chaos?

[boppers]

5. Because incredible amounts of wealth are concentrated in very small areas.

That "one trader" was effectively trading for millions of people.

[underpants]

7. The same thing happened in Japan 5 years ago

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=8287605&mesg_id=8287612


but hey they are paid for being so damned talented that everyone forgot that

[defendandprotect]

6. Keep in mind, there's at least a 10-14-17 second delay with broadcasting . . ..

is this case where a fat finger gets to be uncorrectable?

[Journeyman]

11. And anyone who knew that mistake was coming made a fortune. . .

[Po_d Mainiac]

12. Ya beat me to it..LIHOP n/t

[Journeyman]

13. It reminds me of George W.'s "slip of the tongue" in 2002, when he sent the Yen plummeting. . .

Speaking to a group in Tokyo, he let slip a statement on "devaluation" and the Yen fell through the floor. Within moments, aides hastily pointed out he meant "deflation" and the value of the Yen returned to its original point. But for those few moments anyone who knew that statement was coming stood to make a fortune, and probably did. The press wrote it off as "yet another Bushism," one of those "endearing gaffes that make him so popular" (remember, this was 2002). But I saw it differently. And ever since, I can only see such "errors" through the prism of BushCo deception and deceit.

[SpartanDem]

15. The NYSE and the NADAQ are wiping out the trades

so they aren't keeping the money

[mbperrin]

22. Any link for that?

[SpartanDem]

24. sure do

The Nasdaq Stock Market will cancel trades of stocks that moved 60% above or below the last price at 2:40 p.m. and 3 p.m. EDT Thursday
trading error is being blamed for a wild swing in the stock market on Thursday, during which the Dow at one point lost almost 1,000 points before closing down 348.NYSE Arca also will cancel electronic trades in the same time frame, said Katrina Clay, an NYSE Euronext spokeswoman. Nasdaq OMX Group issued the following statment after the market close Thursday: "NASDAQ reported that we had no technology or system issues associated with the trading that occurred between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m. ET today. Our market close process ran successfully. We have coordinated a process among US Exchanges and therefore, pursuant to rule 11890(b), NASDAQ, on its own motion, will cancel all trades executed between 14:40:00 and 15:00:00 greater than or less than 60% away from the consolidated last print in that security at 14:40:00 or immediately prior.



http://www.thestreet.com/story/10749500/1/nasdaq-nyse-arca-to-cancel-60-swing-trades-in-selloff.html?cm_ven=GOOGLEN

[Nye Bevan]

14. Good thing he didn't hit the "gazillion" button (nt)

[Zoeisright]

21. Or 'brazilion'.

;-)

[tomm2thumbs]

16. or was this someone from another country breaking into the system?

RealTime with Bill Maher had Richard Clarke on it warning about just something like this happening on April 23rd, and we all know they would cover up the computer break-in if it did happen because no one would ever admit the system has vulnerabilities that would drop the market so easily.

What makes more sense? Someone typed a 'Billion' on a trade, or something was able to get into the system and trigger this? I go with the latter.

[tomm2thumbs]

17. Rachel's interview with Richard Clarke on cyber vulnerability

link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HchMaqZuyk

[girl gone mad]

18. Citigroup denied this today.

There had already been 20 minutes of pure selling (dow down ~500 pts) before this trade was even supposedly entered so to blame it for the fall is a bit of a stretch. Such errors happen on a fairly regular basis, and they are corrected quickly. There is much more to the story than some fat-fingered trade. Or is the same trader to blame for the fall in Asia tonight? I will hold off on drawing any premature conclusions on today's action. I will say that equities are still heavily detached from economic fundamentals.

[htuttle]

19. First typing error by a trader, ever

None of them have ever typed the wrong 'letter' before! Really!

Hey, it could have been worse! He could have pressed the 'T' key instead...

[The abyss]

20. Monopoly money 101

[Desertrose]

23. How easy that was to manipulate the market.....

whether intentional or not...

I am shocked, I tell ya!

:sarcasm:

[tom_paine]

25. If CNBC said it, it must be false Corporate InfoPravda

What are they trying to cover up here? What scam and manipulation (and millions or billions stolen, I would guess)?

It's back to the 1890s for Wall Street, and they are as thoroughly corrupt and untrustworthy now as they were then.

[Rex]

26. It is this excuses alone that makes me think it was a major screw up that has them skeerd.

[Kelvin Mace]

27. Very skeptical of anything CNBC says

Wall Street has a very vested interest in blaming a person, since placing the blame where it belongs (computer trading) mean regulating the practice.