DBS down 90% WTF???

Dismal opening on the SGX this morning. I was watching my screen when I noticed... WTF!! DBS is down 90% ???? I clicked on the DBS page and whoa... sh1t. Someone was selling DBS (a $23.00 blue chip stock) at 27 cents. I couldn't believe my eyes! There it was DBS a $23+ stock was going for ... peanuts. But the error was quickly detected and the buyers moved swiftly back in.

The problem is that at the opening most traders haven't put up their bids yet- so there's hardly anyone out there to buy or sell, and shit can happen. So this poor bastard- placed in an incorrect bid involving several hundred thousand shares (worth millions of dollars) - and got taken out.

The chart shows the horror.



The SGX reported it as thus:

DJ MARKET TALK: STI Off 1.2%; Rebounds From Morning Plunge (2007-05-25 01:36:00)


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0136 GMT [Dow Jones] Error trade involving DBS (D05.SG) shares sent STI plunging more than 400 points in opening minute to almost 10-week low of 3124. But problem rectified with index now down 1.2% at 3488.26. Dealer at local brokerage says error involved sale of 187 lots of DBS shares at S$0.27 each; "possibly some remisier was trying to sell a warrant, but clicked on DBS instead." DBS down 2.4% at S$23.90. (FKH)
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The SGX has swiftly moved to cancel the trade and to make amends. As you can see from this quote screen they've X crossed the trades. Curiously, an earlier crossed trade of a higher amount was also cancelled.

But its an embarrassment for all concerned, including the Singapore Stock Exchange- cos it shows up the failings of the system we are using. The SGX was down 500 points for a minute due to that error- and no doubt also caused other traders to press the panic button and start selling. Hopefully, they'd rectify this sort of error and prevent it from happening.

So whenever someone is typing this sort of order in- the computer will flash a BIG WARNING message on the screen.

The problem is that - even for me- when I put in the orders online- I don't even get a message which shows me a detailed summary of the order. Easy for mistakes to happen.