Nanex Research

Nanex 19-May-2014 ~ NEWL's Dozen Trading Halts

On May 19, 2014, the stock of NewLead Holdings Limited (Symbol: NEWL) halted 12 times during the regular market session. Perhaps the new Limit Up/Down (LULD) circuit breakers needs some tweaking? It would probably be a good idea before the next flash crash - here's how LULD would have fared if it was in place on May 6, 2010.

One of these halts (#12) indicates a bug in the implementation at one of the exchanges (see chart #2).

1. NEWL Trades color coded by reporting exchange.
The halts are labeled 1 through 12 below. 7 are halts from exceeding the upper band (1,2,3,6,7,8 and 9), while 5 are from exceeding the lower band (4,5,10,11 and 12).

2. NEWL Zoom on halt #12.
The trades printing below the Lower Band right at the time of the halt should not have executed. They should not have been possible. This indicates a possible bug in the implementation at the Nq-Boston exchange.

3. NEWL Zoom on halt #4.
Note the odd trade reports from FINRA that print right before the halt is lifted, and at high prices.

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