P&I Online readers overwhelmingly believe the Nasdaq outage on Aug. 22 affected high-frequency traders the most.
Of the five choices, 65% of P&I Online readers chose “high-frequency traders.” A far-away second place with 15% of the responses was “the IPO of Regado Biosciences and its private equity investors.” Eight percent of respondents selected “hedge fund managers,” and the remaining options (“Asset owners” and “Money managers”) basically split the remaining difference.
When Nasdaq ceased trading for three hours on Aug. 22, it interrupted the debut of the sole company to go public on the exchange that day, Regado Biosciences. The stock, which went public at $4 a share, was up ahead of the outage, and ended the day at $4.70 a share.
The outage also prompted demands for the government to take action, and Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman Mary Jo White wasted no time in responding by calling for a Sept. 12 meeting of exchange officials and major market participants, such as self-regulatory organizations and alternate trading firms, to consider next steps.
