NYSE Arca Suffers Technical Glitch, Affecting Hundreds of ETFs

NYSE Arca, an equities and options Exchange Exchange An exchange is known as a marketplace that supports the trading of derivatives, commodities, securities, and other financial instruments.Generally, an exchange is accessible through a digital platform or sometimes at a tangible address where investors organize to perform trading. Among the chief responsibilities of an exchange would be to uphold honest and fair-trading practices. These are instrumental in making sure that the distribution of supported security rates on that exchange are effectiv An exchange is known as a marketplace that supports the trading of derivatives, commodities, securities, and other financial instruments.Generally, an exchange is accessible through a digital platform or sometimes at a tangible address where investors organize to perform trading. Among the chief responsibilities of an exchange would be to uphold honest and fair-trading practices. These are instrumental in making sure that the distribution of supported security rates on that exchange are effectiv Read this Term owned and operated by the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), suffered a technical glitch earlier this week, effectively stifling the closing auction for upwards of 341 securities.

Glitches at exchanges are nothing new and periodically shut down or inhibit operations at a number of worldwide venues. Back in December 2016, NYSE Arca experienced a technical glitch on its platform that led to a fifteen-minute cessation of trading.

This week’s technical difficulties occurred on Monday, affecting NYSE Arca’s auction mechanism. They were attributed to a new version of software. The auction mechanism is used to determine prices for a wide range of instruments, from mutual fund and exchange-traded-funds (ETF) net asset values to the valuation of benchmark indices, thus making it a critical part of daily market activity.

Trading on the exchange has since returned to normalcy, however a letter was issued recently explaining the situation: “I am contacting you personally to emphasise that we take these matters very seriously,” Stacey Cunningham, chief operating officer at the New York Stock Exchange Stock Exchange A stock exchange, also known as a securities exchange or bourse represents is a facility where stockbrokers and traders can buy and sell securities.This includes shares of stock, bonds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), or other financial instruments. By extension, stock exchanges can also provide facilities for the issue and redemption of such securities and instruments and capital events including the payment of income and dividendsStock exchanges have developed into a permanent fixture in the fin A stock exchange, also known as a securities exchange or bourse represents is a facility where stockbrokers and traders can buy and sell securities.This includes shares of stock, bonds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), or other financial instruments. By extension, stock exchanges can also provide facilities for the issue and redemption of such securities and instruments and capital events including the payment of income and dividendsStock exchanges have developed into a permanent fixture in the fin Read this Term, wrote in the letter.

Approximately 341 securities were affected, though NYSE is not making a full list of affected securities publicly available. The bigger revelation may be how reliant trading platforms have become on technology, with periodic hiccups or software glitches becoming a norm for global exchanges.

These issues are exacerbated by periodic updates and other mechanisms that ultimately traders have had to adapt to. This week’s glitch affected the closing prices for ETFs, though NYSE utilized an alternative mechanism to determine closing prices for the affected securities – trading has since resumed, though US regulators have already been looking into previous glitches at NYSE and ICE’s handling of past situations.