The thing about this that makes me laugh the most is the
trading freezes they wish to implement throughout a typical trading day.
It's to stop panic-selling and - in my eyes - is equivalent to an immature child taking a "time out" after throwing a hissy-fit.
Fearing more carnage in world equity markets, big hedge funds and other institutional investors have been pulling out their money en masse in a bid to reduce risk and raise cash — a process known as deleveraging that only intensifies the selling....
...The big drop in futures trading raised the possibility that circuit breakers intended to prevent panic selling could be triggered during regular trading — something that hasn't happened since 1997.
If the Dow Jones industrial average falls 10 per cent before 2 p.m. ET, the market will shut down for an hour. If the threshold is breached between 2 p.m. and 2:30 p.m., the halt will last 30 minutes. Trading would stop again if the Dow falls by 20 per cent. If trading falls by 30 per cent at any time, trading would be halted for the day.
Talk about trying to wrangle a bunch of unruly kids.
