A Reutersarticle early this week stated that the London Stock Exchange could finally look forward to "putting past technology glitches behind it" now that the LSE had officially migrated to its new, faster Turquoise trading platform developed by MillenniumIT on the 14th of February.
Well, it didn't take long to demonstate that this sentiment was a wee bit premature.
For on the 15th of February, reports the Financial Times of London:
"... the closing auction on Tuesday began 42 seconds later than its normal start of 4.30pm. The auction normally lasts five minutes and is designed to help set a definitive closing price for stocks at the end of the day, which helps asset managers with portfolio reconciliation and valuation."
"The effect was to confuse computer algorithms, triggering trades at the wrong time, sparking volatility, some market participants said."
Many LSE traders were not amused by the glitch.
The FT said that Wednesday's closing auction went smoothly, although some traders were still trying to resolve their trading positions from the previous day's hiccup.
Turquoise replaces LSE's problem plagued Microsoft Tradelect system which went live in 2007.
Robert N. Charette is a Contributing Editor to IEEE Spectrum and an acknowledged international authority on information technology and systems risk management. A self-described “risk ecologist,” he is interested in the intersections of business, political, technological, and societal risks. Charette is an award-winning author of multiple books and numerous articles on the subjects of risk management, project and program management, innovation, and entrepreneurship. A Life Senior Member of the IEEE, Charette was a recipient of the IEEE Computer Society’s Golden Core Award in 2008.