Shining a light on the flash crash
A report by US regulators offers a post-mortem on the May 6 flash crash and gives clues as to how a future stock market dive could be prevented. But not all market participants agree with the findings – or the possible fixes. Mark Pengelly reports
The flash crash might have been precipitated in minutes, but regulators and market participants have spent months turning over the details of exactly what happened. The basic facts are clear: at around 2:45pm on May 6, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) went into freefall, quickly collapsing by 998.5 points before rebounding almost as rapidly. The stock index eventually closed at 10,520.32 points, down just 322.86 points on the day.
Speculation over the causes of the carnage is rife. Some
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