Stock Market Sell-Off Might Stem From Trader's Fat Finger

s122604 points out a CNBC story according to which "the catalyst for today's extraordinary price swing (at one point the Dow lost almost 9 percent in less than an hour) may have been because a trader entered a 'B' for billions instead of an 'M' for millions on a trade of Procter and Gamble: 'According to multiple sources, a trader entered a "b" for billion instead of an "m" for million in a trade possibly involving Procter & Gamble, a component in the Dow. (CNBC's Jim Cramer noted suspicious price movement in P&G stock on air during the height of the market selloff).' Unbelievable there are no safeguards to protect against this."

Happens to the best of us

[Renderer of Evil]

I can relate because one time I typed :q! instead of :w, losing about 5 minutes worth of typing. The typed text had sentimental value worth billions.

Re:SELL!

[Sponge Bath]

...something a little more solid, like canned food and ammunition.

You might be happier with a Whisky and Prostitutes ETF. Consult your broker today.

Re:SELL!

[WrongSizeGlass]

Some people see disaster, some see a good buying opportunity ;-)

I believe you're referring to a Crisitunity [urbandictionary.com].

Fat fingers + ammo?

[syousef]

Might be time to invest my money in something a little more solid, like canned food and ammunition.

Yes, because fat fingers and ammunition go together well...as long as you don't invest in a gun too.

That's what they get for running Linux

[Locke2005]

If they were running Vista, they would have to click through "Are you sure you want to do this?" and "Are you really sure you want to do this?" popups, as well as a popup of Clippy asking "It looks like you are trying to trigger a stock market panic. How can I help?" No fat-finger problems there!

So soon on /.?

[Anonymous Coward]

Shouldn't this hot topic be debated on /. in, say, a week?

Re:SELL!

[Stele]

I can't be sure what happened to Procter and Gamble, but I just made a killing on pork bellies and orange juice!

"I must've put a decimal point in the wrong place

[ryan.onsrc]

.... or something. Shit, I always do that.

I always mess up some mundane detail."

Re:Happens to the best of us

[Anonymous Coward]

Which is why you should use C-x C-c. Totally avoids that sort of confusion.

FTFY.

Re:Slashdot, you missed the software part!

[wykell]

Its not going to be an upgrade in broker software, but in broker hardware. And by that, I mean they are going to remove the fingers of the brokers.

See?!

[GrumblyStuff]

Obesity is destroying America!

Re:This should happen EVERY DAY, would be good

[dAzED1]

Speculators would be driven out...a lot of day traders just pooped their pants. I'm buying men's underwear stocks.

So, you're admitting you're a speculator?

Re:SELL!

[Scaba]

I can't be sure what happened to Procter and Gamble, but I just made a killing on pork bellies and orange juice!

Louis: Looking good, Billy Ray!
Billy Ray: Feeling good, Louis!

Re:SELL!

[hoggoth]

Clippy: "Hi, I noticed you were trying to buy one billion shares of Proctor and Gamble even though there are less than a billion in existence. Would you like me to make that a shortcut for you?"

Dvorak -- B next to M

[by (1706743)]

On the Dvorak keyboard [wikipedia.org], B is right next to M. That said, I use Dvorak, and have never personally caused a stock market fiasco. Maybe I should change professions...

MS Paperclip?

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey, it looks like your trying to destroy Western Capitalism, would you like some help with that? (annoying paperclip)

Re:Correct, but also incorrect

[AthleteMusicianNerd]

You contradicted yourself in the title.

Goldman Sachs

[3seas]

Naw, its Goldman Sachs selling their holdings to pay for lawyers.

Re:SELL!

[Cryacin]

The long term sandwich strategy pays off for the hungry investor.

Re:Fat fingers + ammo?

[commodoresloat]

Don't be silly; the real problem with fat fingers is opening up the cans of food! That's what the ammunition is for.

That's ...

[PPH]

... a butherfucking mig bistake!

Re:SELL!

[mikiN]

Why would hitting 'i' be so bad? If he'd hit 's', he would need to do an inverse Laplace transform to set things straight. If he'd hit 'i', the transaction would have been imaginary anyway.

Re:SELL!

[hoggoth]

Clippy: "Hi, I noticed that you are arguing with an anthropomorphic office supply. Would you like to have a debate?"

Re:SELL!

[Anonymous Coward]

Non-judgment day must be growing near.

So, is that like the atheist end of the world where the invisible pink unicorn impales the FSM bringing about the unpocalypse? Or is it the day where everyone becomes completely non-judgmental towards each other to the point that, due to the complete lack of negative criticism, no matter how shitty or stupid or broken something is it just gets published/manufactured/etc. and civilization falls apart as buildings collapse, planes fall out of the sky, and kdawson is allowed complete control over slashdot's front page?

Re:What is the value of this market speculation?

[mbstone]

I spent the day in Vegas investing in futures contracts on green-chip investment products such as the "5," "6" and "8." Unfortunately the table went south about the same time as did P&G. But I didn't need a middleman, and I saved 100% on commission.

Re:Happens to the best of us

[TeknoHog]

Maybe so, but Butterflies has a tricky UI, so I generally use Emacs as a convenient frontend.