Today, a computerized sell off caused a huge panic in the Wall Street. Dow Jones was down 1000 points, close to 10% of its value, in about 30 minutes. This could have been one of the most bumpy days in Wall Street history. However, this big mistake hasn't been linked to a culprit yet. It is unclear what actually caused the disturbance. Investigators say that i might have been caused by a trader who accidentally put in an order to sell $16 billion instead of $16 million. But it is still unclear. To settle everything, NASDAQ issued a statement saying that they were going to cancel all transactions and trades between the times 2:40 p.m. and 3.
Investigators also found that the initial fall in stocks were aided by computerized trading. When the computers recognized a dip in stocks, they automatically sold.
"'I think the machines just took over. There's not a lot of human interaction," said Charlie Smith, chief investment officer at Fort Pitt Capital Group. "We've known that automated trading can run away from you, and I think that's what we saw happen today.'"
I think its kind of scary how so much money in stocks is being controlled by machines. Computers only do what they are programed to do; they have no/limited flexibility. If something unexpected happens again like today, robots can't adapt. How do you guys feel about machines taking over? Not just in the stock market but in other businesses and companies.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
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4 comments:
This is very scary because this huge panic could have set off yet another recession. It could have affected buyers and sellers greatly and negatively effect our economy. I agree that it is scary that all of our money is in the hands of machines
It is rather scary that we have so many things run in the hands of machines now, and this incident is a clear example of how our reliance on technology can hurt us. However, I don't feel like our reliance on technology will ever change. Yes technology has its shortcomings, but we have innovated it so much that it has become an integral part of our daily life. It has become so vital to us that we cannot go back and change our ways. And while technology has many clear benefits, unfortunately it also means we are forced to deal with incidents like this. Now obviously the benefits of technology do outweigh technology's occasional shortcomings, I just hope that we dont become so reliant that when a big technological "crash" comes we won't be completely devastated.
I also believe that this incident is extremely scary and very irresponsible. I honestly believe that the person who mistakenly wrote the 16 billion instead of 16 million should be fired. This mistake is huge!!! The fact that right after it happened the machines were programmed to sell stocks is unfathomable. The machines are just doing what they are told to do. But there should be some sort of security device that or some sort of confirmation button that allows for traders to confirm the selling of the stocks. We cannot just simply rely on these machines, it is too risky.
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