TradeSmartOnline,
Thanks for the reply. Yes I am aware of those points u mentioned. I guess you misinterpreted my question. What I meant to ask was: when flash crashes happen, they are usually unexpected so for that short time period margin exposure limits cannot be updated imposed by exchanges. Next, what happens if let's say your clients have 5000 Nifty futures contracts long positions and stop loss market order for the same. What if a massive sell order hits the market and triggers major stop losses causing the nifty to go into a tail spin? What will happen if it crashes 1000 points giving ur clients the worst prices for the SL-M orders? In such cases losses incurred are far in excess of the SPAN+EXPOSURE. in such a case the broker has to pay up if he cannot recover from clients. What happens then?
Hello market oracle,
Was out of town. Since this is an important topic, did not want to do an injustice to the same by writing a short reply from cell phone.
You are right, a flash crash kind of an event is not considered in the var margin computation and this is a situation that is not due to market factors and more due to erroneous trades. It affects the sanctity of the entire market mechanism and brings bad name to the exchange. SEBI and exchanges are very concerned about it and have already taken a few measures to minimize such instances. Some of them are as below:
1. An upper limit for a single order has been placed at Rs 10 cr.
2. A dynamic initial price band has been placed at 10% of the stock's previous day's closing price in either direction.
This has reduced the chances of a flash crash but unfortunately not eliminated the same. However, any instance of another flash crash would draw a lot of flak from everyone. You might also want to refer to a
Mizuho Securities (Japan) case of J-Com shares for a reference.
The exchanges also have the option to annul trades executed at irrational prices. This was even done by BSE on 26 October 2011 for some freak trades on Muhurat Trading day. However, unlike the US we do not yet have a rule on the same. A specific rule regarding the same might be helpful as people would have more clarity when they stand a chance of having their trades cancelled and should stay away from the markets and not try to hedge their positions with another trade. One sided trades being cancelled in a hedged position is not where one would like to be.