Quote Spread Disintegration

Instant Instability

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HFT is only your friend when you aren't trading.


On February 28, 2012 at 10am, a disruptor event caused the market to explode in activity. The NBBO spread for thousands of stocks, immediately disintegrated. See also: The Emperor Has No Clothes.


NBBO Spread ~ Lower values indicate tighter spreads.

The chart on the left shows the percentage of stocks with quote spreads during each second between 9:30 and 10:30 Eastern. The percentage of stocks with a quote spread greater than or equal to 2 cents are colored dark purple, while stocks with quote spreads greater than or equal to 25 cents are colored red.
NBBO Stability ~ Lower values indicate higher stability.

The chart on the right shows the percentage of stocks that had quote spread changes during each second between 9:30 and 10:30 Eastern. The percentage of stocks with spread variance greater than or equal to 1 cent are colored dark purple while those with spread variance greater than or equal to 25 cents are colored red.


NBBO Spread Changes

The chart on the left shows the percentage of stocks with increasing (red) and decreasing (black) quote spreads during each second between 9:59:30 and 10:00:30 Eastern. See also.
NBBO Stability Changes

The chart on the left shows the percentage of stocks with destabilizing (red) and stabalizing (black) quote spreads during each second between 9:59:30 and 10:00:30 Eastern.
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