NYSE Glitch That Led To Busted Trades Spurs Call For Inquiry

A glitch at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) prevented the opening auctions for a slew of stocks, prompting widespread trading halts, confusion over whether orders were being filled at correct prices, and trades in more than 250 securities being busted, John Mccrank, Medha Singh and Chuck Mikolajczak reported for Reuters.

Photo Insert: The NYSE, which is owned by Intercontinental Exchange Inc., said a "system issue" prevented the opening auctions in a subset of its listed securities.

The NYSE, which is owned by Intercontinental Exchange Inc., said a "system issue" prevented the opening auctions in a subset of its listed securities. The stocks began trading without an opening print, causing erroneous prices that the exchange said will be declared null and void.

"Such events are extremely rare, and we are thoroughly examining the day's activity to assure the highest level of resilience in our systems," NYSE's Chief Operating Officer Michael Blaugrund said in a statement.

NYSE ended the day with a normal market close and expected a regular open on the following day, Blaugrund added.

A spreadsheet released by the exchange showed 251 affected securities. The glitch - the most recent in a series since the "flash crash" of 2010 - impacted stocks of major companies including ExxonMobil, 3M, Verizon, McDonald's Corp., Wells Fargo, and Walmart.

"What appears to have happened is a technical glitch where all of my opening orders on the NYSE autocancelled even though some of them should have been fulfilled," said Dennis Dick, trader at Triple D Trading.

"They have corrected that now, but this is going to be a big mess to clean up." The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said it was reviewing the issue.

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