Needed—A Global Approach to Data in the Digital Age
Global principles on data policy can help level the playing field while addressing financial stability and inclusion, competition, and privacy.
Speed Limits for Financial Markets? Not So Fast
By IMFBlog
June 1, 2017
Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (photo: Andrew Kelly/Reuters/Newscom)
On the afternoon of May 6, 2010, a financial tsunami hit Wall Street. Stunned traders watched as graphs on their computer screens traced the vertiginous 998-point plunge in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which erased $1 trillion in market value in 36 minutes.
There was little in the way of fundamental news to drive such a dramatic decline, and stocks bounced back later that day. The event, quickly dubbed the “flash crash,” focused attention on the role of high-frequency trading and algorithms in amplifying market volatility.