The computer glitch paralyzed NASDAQ for three hours on August 22, Bloomberg said. The American stock exchange did not give any details; however, it was noted that technical issues were recorded in the system consolidating the quotes. According to Reuters, the halt was provoked by the power outage.
The market went dark at 12:14 p.m. and resumed only at 15:25 p.m. There were some signs indicating errors before the blackout. For example, Intel stocks surged by 20% for no reason.
The representatives of large companies engaged in stock trading announced that they broke even that day.
Unless the “flash crash” happened in late August, which is a dead season for the U.S. trading platforms, the consequences could be profounder.
That was the second technical glitch in a week. Two days earlier, it caused the $100 million loss for the largest investing bank of the United States, The Goldman Sachs.
Presently, computer problems occur more frequently, besides their scale does nothing but increase. For example, technical failures scuttled the IPO Facebook in May 2010. Last year, such a shutdown cost Knight Capital $400 million. That time Nasdaq had to pay the penalty amounting to $10 million.