BATS halts orders after stock plummets to 4 cents
NEW YORK (AP) — It wasn't the stock market debut that BATS Global Markets was hoping for.
The stock exchange operator on Thursday night announced it would sell 6.3 million shares at $16 apiece when it went public the following morning. Then, the next day, the shares plunged to 4 cents before trading was halted.
The drop conjures memories of the "flash crash" in May 2010, when stocks plummeted and then soared again in minutes because of computer glitches.
The reasons weren't immediately clear. The exchange issued a statement on its website shortly before noon saying that trading in its own shares would be halted until further notice. It also said it would cancel all open orders for stocks in the symbol range of A to BFZZZ for 10 minutes in the early afternoon.
Bloomberg News reported that a trade on a BATS platform for Apple sent the company's stock temporarily plunging to $542.80, though they soon returned to about $597.
Apple trades under the symbol AAPL. The BATS exchange trades under the symbol BATS.
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the rapid-fire, computerized stocks trading platforms and whether they give traders an unfair advantage. The Journal, which cited people familiar with the matter, said the investigation includes BATS.
The SEC declined to comment.
BATS, headquartered in the Kansas City, Mo., area, says its stock exchanges account for about 11 to 12 percent of all U.S. stock trading.
