The Kill Switch

On October 4th 2012 an article from Reuters speaks about the SEC convenes round table following the Knight error and executives broadly support concept of a kill switch.

So the people who code the software that has a glitch will also be the people who code the software that programs the kill switch. Who are the people that will program the switch that will kill the kill switch when it has a glitch?

The article goes on to say ….

“Housed within the SEC’s Trading and Markets Division, the office is hiring math whizzes and subscribing to the same proprietary data feeds that high-frequency traders use themselves to examine trading patterns in orders and cancellations.”

Seriously????? These math whizzes are so smart that they will take a job on the government pay grade – and not go to a Goldman or Morgan – it’s that kind of closed minded Narcissistic governmental thinking that has caused many of the regulatory problems to begin with.

A kill switch can be just as dangerous at the glitch itself. What happens if a program is just running normally and there is a worldwide event that caused the movement? Depending on what firms kill switch kicks in – the correlation risk to the broader market is unknown. Please comment below I would like to hear your point of view.

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