It's a horse race from 9:30 to 4 every day in New York City. Only instead of horses running around a track, it's stocks and bonds and other securities.
Then a bell rings, and two things happen. A) a dog drools and B) stocks stop officially trading. It is in this next thirty to sixty minutes that many companies take the opportunity to announce their quarterly results, or special events like a merger, or a CEO being caught on video with their mistress.
The bell moniker is a relic of bygone times when, at the end of the day, an actual bell was rung. It was, for better or worse, replaced with electronic, synthesized noises replicating a bell in today's way-too-high-tech world.
Related or Semi-related Video
Finance: What is the Fast Market Rule?11 Views
Finance a la shmoop what is the fast market rule? okay things get crazy here [Two guys riding a rollercoaster]
whoa and every now and then there's a leap well blimey, that's how things work
here on the London Stock Exchange.....
the fast market rule accommodates the chaos by giving brokers and other market
makers the freedom to trade outside the ranges published to the exchange why is
this needed? well because we live in a world of robots and artificial
intelligence and fat thumbs that hit the wrong keys and hackers from Russia China
and Mars all of whom can profit from chaotic disruption if you want to see
this phenomenon in its finest form well check out Jack Nicholson in the original [Man stood next to Jack Nicholson as Joker]
Batman movie and that was the best one so the logic revolves around the fact
that today even with all our massive computing power we would still rather
rely on human beings when you know the congressman hits the fan then assume
that a computer will be clever enough to figure out what's wrong quickly you know
when the world is on a collision course with chaos all over the place fast [Meteor strikes Earth]
market rule, humans over robots...
Up Next
What are At-the-Close Orders and At-the-Opening Orders? At-the-Close orders are given to brokers and the brokers can only fill them at the close of...
What is an Auction Market? Auction markets are the common stock exchanges. They allow buyers and sellers to enter bids and offers; trades occur whe...
What are Capital Markets? The most often context used for “Capital Markets” is in corporate finance and investment banking, and it refers prima...