Science fiction comes to a reality near you. Last weeks IPO by BATS failed dismally due, apparently to a 'software glitch' as discloded by the now sacked CEO, or was it computer sabotage by an algo launched out of BATS commercial exchange rival, Nasdaq?
For those of you who dont know what BATS is, according to the Wall St Journal last week:
"The seven-year-old firm is the third-largest U.S. stock-exchange operator by number of shares traded, accounting for about 11% of the U.S. market. In London, it runs the biggest pan-European share-trading platform. It also runs an options exchange and has sought to break into primary listings. In January, a range of exchange-traded funds developed by BlackRock Inc. listed on its U.S. platform. BATS's flotation was closely watched by the trading industry, because it represented an elevated profile for one of a new generation of exchanges, built upon sophisticated systems and run with far fewer staff than NYSE Euronext and Nasdaq OMX."
See Zerohedge which carries some awesome graphics fingerprinting the crime in progress: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/skynet-wars-how-nasdaq-algo-destroyed-bats