About a-team Marketing Services
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry

A-Team Insight Blogs

Bats Glitch Caused by Own IPO?

Subscribe to our newsletter

It looks like the trading problem earlier today at Bats Global Markets was caused by commencement in trading of its own shares following its IPO. In a “Post-Mortem” message sent to its members, the exchange said that: “a single matching engine handling symbol range A-BFZZZ encountered a software bug related to IPO auctions which rendered open customer orders in this symbol range inaccessible,” and added: “Once the root of the issue was identified as being related to certain Regular Hours Only (RHO) orders, an emergency patch was created to prevent the issue from occurring in a Halt auction.”

The problem lasted about an hour and 15 minutes, and likely led to a sudden drop in the share price of Apple, trading in which was suspended for a period because of circuit breaker rules. When trading resumed correctly, Bats considered but then decided against allowing its own symbol to resume trading, essentially withdrawing its IPO.

So, all in all, not a good day for the exchange, on one that should have been a big milestone for it. Reminds me of when the London Stock Exchange’s Big Bang blew up back in 1986 – also due to a software bug.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Related content

WEBINAR

Upcoming Webinar: High-Performance Networks & Low-Latency Connectivity for Trading

10 June 2025 10:00am ET | 3:00pm London | 4:00pm CET Duration: 50 Minutes With financial markets becoming more complex and interconnected in today’s electronic trading environment, trading firms, exchanges, and infrastructure providers need to continually push the boundaries of network performance to stay ahead. Ultra-low latency, seamless connectivity, and resilient infrastructure are no longer...

BLOG

LO:TECH Secures $1.6 Million in Seed Funding and Introduces Market Making as a Service for Digital Assets

Low Observable Technology (LO:TECH), the London-based digital asset trading firm, has raised $1.6 million in a seed funding round led by Lightspeed Faction, a prominent venture capital firm focused on the cryptocurrency sector. Additional participation came from Blockchain Coinvestors and Chris Adelsbach. LO:TECH provides liquidity to global markets through its advanced trading solutions and intends...

EVENT

ESG Data & Tech Briefing London

The ESG Data & Tech Briefing will explore challenges around assembling and evaluating ESG data for reporting and the impact of regulatory measures and industry collaboration on transparency and standardisation efforts. Expert speakers will address how the evolving market infrastructure is developing and the role of new technologies and alternative data in improving insight and filling data gaps.

GUIDE

Institutional Digital Assets Handbook 2024

Despite the setback of the FTX collapse, institutional interest in digital assets has grown markedly in the past 12 months, with firms of all sizes now acknowledging participation in some form. While as recently as a year ago, institutional trading firms were taking a cautious stance toward their use, the acceptance of tokenisation, stablecoins, and...