SEC to Set Up Stock-by-Stock Circuit-Breakers

The SEC, FINRA and national securities exchanges are proposing individual circuit-breakers for every stock available in the U.S. They would set in if a security price moves 10% or more in a five-minute period.

The proposal, available for public comment, is in response to the extraordinary fluctuation in the stock market on May 6. Critics have said the stock market has become as wildly unpredictable as a casino.

“We continue to believe that the market disruption of May 6 was exacerbated by disparate trading rules and conventions across the exchanges,” said SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro. “All the exchanges quickly reached consensus on a set of uniform circuit breakers that would be triggered when needed.”

 

 

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