Hacked Twitter Account causes "flash crash" of market

[powerboatr]

we have done the dollar cost averaging plan since 1992
it has worked well
every month a set amount is used to buy more of a stock or stocks or parts of a fund (we have three split)
some months we buy more , some we buy less, but over the last decade and a half its made enough for us to be comfortable when i start drawing off them, the 9/11 tank of the market, actually worked real good, we bought lots and lots at low prices and those same funds are well over a 10 fold gain.
we never sell, just buy buy buy
my closed fidelity fund, oh man it makes progress no matter what. the manager for this particular fund is a genius
day trading is imo just to volatile for a person at home to keep up with and make it work, like it was said, you cannot trade as fast as computers.

[03Lightningrocks]

It is due to computerized trading. They have algorithmic programs set to buy and sell based on trading patterns and volumes. They have also programmed key word detection into the game. The program reads the word explosion and Obama. Within milliseconds it begins dumping. Other computers then react in turn. Market dropping fast.... Explosion... Obama... Sell. It feeds on itself. It happens more than most folks realize. A few months back a fed report was due out. Split seconds ahead of the release, the minutes were already being fed into the computers. The market dropped hard, two seconds later it moved up fast... Then dropped hard again... Then moved up and settled down. The funny thing was watching it happen a split second before certain key words were read from the minutes.

Yep... I day trade. Moments like that can be real fun... And a terror at the same time. The average investors have no chance of keeping up with these computers. It has gotten so crazy, they actually compete to set up "terminals" closer to the exchange so they can feed the info into the computer milliseconds ahead of other computers. By the time folks like myself or the average investor see the movement, we are looking at history.

Every time I start playing with the idea of doing some individual investing, things like this come around and make me go.

I hear you on that. I have been day trading now for about 22 years. I would never consider day trading as investing. It's more of a game. I watch charts and look for patterns in volume and pricing. When I get busy with my real job, running a business, I park my day trading Capitol in cash. A move like we are talking in this thread is a day traders perfect opportunity if they don't get greedy.

Don't let these crazy moves scare you from true investing if your time horizon is ten years you will come out ahead. Do diligent research on stocks you buy and average in over time. Don't be afraid to sell if something fundamental changes from your original reason for buying the stock. Be careful about hopping on the latest fad stock. Look for good companies that have established track records and if they pay dividends, that's a plus. Reinvest the dividends for growth.

[03Lightningrocks]

I hate my iphone. It changed at least two words for me. If I could dig up Steve jobs I would kick him In his rump

[03Lightningrocks]

we have done the dollar cost averaging plan since 1992
it has worked well
every month a set amount is used to buy more of a stock or stocks or parts of a fund (we have three split)
some months we buy more , some we buy less, but over the last decade and a half its made enough for us to be comfortable when i start drawing off them, the 9/11 tank of the market, actually worked real good, we bought lots and lots at low prices and those same funds are well over a 10 fold gain.
we never sell, just buy buy buy
my closed fidelity fund, oh man it makes progress no matter what. the manager for this particular fund is a genius
day trading is imo just to volatile for a person at home to keep up with and make it work, like it was said, you cannot trade as fast as computers.

This... Is called investing! Very nice! Congrats on your strategy! My mother wouldn't listen when I told her to hold in 2008-2009. She freaked and dumped all her stocks at almost the dead bottom. If she would have done what I said she would be right back and then some. Instead, she has watched the market go back up without her in it. She was worried about her retirement money. Fear is a powerful motivator.

[sjfcontrol]

I hate my iphone. It changed at least two words for me. If I could dig up Steve jobs I would kick him In his rump

Instead of digging up dead people, and desecrating bodies, why not just turn off auto-correction?

Settings -> General -> Keyboard -> Auto-Correction -> off

[03Lightningrocks]

You wanna have done safe fun investing? Silver is at a three year low. I wouldn't drop the whole wad on it at once but now isn't a bad price to start wading in. If it breaks below 20, which isn't likely, it will likely see 17-18 before moving back up.

[03Lightningrocks]

I hate my iphone. It changed at least two words for me. If I could dig up Steve jobs I would kick him In his rump

Instead of digging up dead people, and desecrating bodies, why not just turn off auto-correction?

Settings -> General -> Keyboard -> Auto-Correction -> off

That would make way to much sense! I keep meaning to do it and get distracted before I can study the owners manual. :)

[powerboatr]

we have done the dollar cost averaging plan since 1992
it has worked well
every month a set amount is used to buy more of a stock or stocks or parts of a fund (we have three split)
some months we buy more , some we buy less, but over the last decade and a half its made enough for us to be comfortable when i start drawing off them, the 9/11 tank of the market, actually worked real good, we bought lots and lots at low prices and those same funds are well over a 10 fold gain.
we never sell, just buy buy buy
my closed fidelity fund, oh man it makes progress no matter what. the manager for this particular fund is a genius
day trading is imo just to volatile for a person at home to keep up with and make it work, like it was said, you cannot trade as fast as computers.

This... Is called investing! Very nice! Congrats on your strategy! My mother wouldn't listen when I told her to hold in 2008-2009. She freaked and dumped all her stocks at almost the dead bottom. If she would have done what I said she would be right back and then some. Instead, she has watched the market go back up without her in it. She was worried about her retirement money. Fear is a powerful motivator.

yep i Had a commanding officer way back in the day that one day ventured into our shop and was just shooting the breeze about life and stuff. He said a few words about investing because we had a warrant officer that was pushing real hard to hold classes so she could guide us to be smart investors. they were true visionaries in 1992

well his words about dollar cost averaging made sense and i made a few calls to some good investing groups. After a few more one on one meetings with him
i was sold and never looked back.
we both used the same firm until they split and then i added fidelity to grab my 401 money from my other job.
its tough to convince folks to hold the line when the market tanks...I always tell them to be mindful of what is going on, but don't react to quickly. Your planning for your retirement, not today or this week. Let it ride and grow.
Mutual funds work really good with dollar cost averaging, they are diversified and remain pretty evenly balanced ( most, not all)

[SQLGeek]

It is due to computerized trading. They have algorithmic programs set to buy and sell based on trading patterns and volumes. They have also programmed key word detection into the game. The program reads the word explosion and Obama. Within milliseconds it begins dumping. Other computers then react in turn. Market dropping fast.... Explosion... Obama... Sell. It feeds on itself. It happens more than most folks realize. A few months back a fed report was due out. Split seconds ahead of the release, the minutes were already being fed into the computers. The market dropped hard, two seconds later it moved up fast... Then dropped hard again... Then moved up and settled down. The funny thing was watching it happen a split second before certain key words were read from the minutes.

Yep... I day trade. Moments like that can be real fun... And a terror at the same time. The average investors have no chance of keeping up with these computers. It has gotten so crazy, they actually compete to set up "terminals" closer to the exchange so they can feed the info into the computer milliseconds ahead of other computers. By the time folks like myself or the average investor see the movement, we are looking at history.

Every time I start playing with the idea of doing some individual investing, things like this come around and make me go.

I hear you on that. I have been day trading now for about 22 years. I would never consider day trading as investing. It's more of a game. I watch charts and look for patterns in volume and pricing. When I get busy with my real job, running a business, I park my day trading Capitol in cash. A move like we are talking in this thread is a day traders perfect opportunity if they don't get greedy.

Don't let these crazy moves scare you from true investing if your time horizon is ten years you will come out ahead. Do diligent research on stocks you buy and average in over time. Don't be afraid to sell if something fundamental changes from your original reason for buying the stock. Be careful about hopping on the latest fad stock. Look for good companies that have established track records and if they pay dividends, that's a plus. Reinvest the dividends for growth.

Thanks for the sound advice. I have investments now but nothing like individual stocks and the like. I'm pretty good with money but stock performance and analysis has always mystified me a bit and I think made me shy away from it.

[tomneal]

Back to the original topic.

When the news came out about the two bombs in Boston, the market dropped then rebounded.
A week later the AP Twitter account was hacked. They used some key words 'two bombs', 'White House', 'Obama injured'
The market dropped then rebounded.
If they traced the buy orders (at the outset of the news) and matched it with the sell orders (as the rumor was declared false) they should be able to find a list of suspects behind this money making scheme.
The good news is that this particular scam won't work again. (At least for a while.)

[03Lightningrocks]

Back to the original topic.

When the news came out about the two bombs in Boston, the market dropped then rebounded.
A week later the AP Twitter account was hacked. They used some key words 'two bombs', 'White House', 'Obama injured'
The market dropped then rebounded.
If they traced the buy orders (at the outset of the news) and matched it with the sell orders (as the rumor was declared false) they should be able to find a list of suspects behind this money making scheme.
The good news is that this particular scam won't work again. (At least for a while.)

It never got off the original topic. But to address your post. These things happen far more frequently than one would like to think. Two days ago a fake press release was put out saying bidu was going to buy zynga. The stocks were still reacting even after the market figured out it was a hoax. Check this out... It's crazy! http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2 ... azy-2.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sorry about the edit delay... I had to find that link to finish my post.

[03Lightningrocks]

Oh... And it could actually get more frequent. Now that companies are allowed to release earnings on Facebook or twitter. Technology is making the market a dangerous place for the average day trader. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-0 ... osure.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

IMHO... allowing this opens the door to further false releases on hacked accounts or even fake accounts. On the other hand, there have been instances of false news stories and fake releases affecting the market forever. The difference these days is computerized trading. It speeds up the moves greatly and has the potential for creating panic faster than when humans had to look before leaping. Now the computers just buy and sell with no hesitation.