All trading on the Nasdaq options markets has been halted due to a technical issue according to a press release from NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ), the company that runs the stock exchange. According to the statement, the exchange was halting trading on all “Tape C” securities because of a problem processing quotes.
The message from the NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ), came in at 12:14 m EST. Many publicly traded companies exchange have seen trading in their shares halted as a result of the decision by the exchange. The cause of the problem has not yet been fully disclosed, but the statement from the company said that it was an issue with a data feed that was not working properly.
Stock exchange technical issues mounting
This isn’t the first technical problem that has faced an options market this week. On Tuesday the NYSE Amex exchange revealed that a number of erroneous trades had hit its index. The company was reviewing the trades, which were subsequently reported to have come from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS).
In that case faulty software at the investment bank was blamed. The bad trades all came in a seventeen minute window, and only affected ticker symbols starting with letters from L through H. Today’s halting of the Nasdaq options markets appears to also stem from technical problems.
Nasdaq error
Though there has not been a full statement from Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. (NDAQ:NASDAQ) on the error it seems that today’s problem is the result of an issue with the company’s own service, as opposed to a problem in orders received. Nasdaq stock fell last year after mishaps in dealing with the Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) IPO led to lawsuits from investors and scrutiny from regulators.
The increase in automation in the stock market has led to several problems in trading infrastructure as software bugs and other problems hamper the efficacy of the market.
