Nanex Research

Nanex ~ 22-Apr-2013 ~ Google Flash Crash


On April 22, 2013 at 9:37:11.500 (ET), Google Flash Crashed. The price dropped from $796 to $775 in about 3/4 of a second, then rebounded to $793 a second later. The drop invovled 307 trades and 57,255 shares from 10 exchanges + dark pools. During the drop, there were 5 orders placed for every trade executed (meaning 4 orders placed/canceled for every trade).

See charts of HES later the same morning which was likely from a fat finger (Google crash probably not from a fat finger)

1. GOOG - Showing trades color coded by exchange.


2. GOOG - Showing bids and asks color coded by exchange.
Plenty of quotes, but few lasting long enough.


3. GOOG - Showing trades color coded by exchange.
Zooming in from Chart 1.


4. GOOG - Showing bids color coded by exchange.
There are 5 times as many buy orders as trades. Over 1,000 orders were placed and canceled during the 3/4 second drop!


5. GOOG - Showing trades color coded by exchange.
This is one second of data!



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