The Most Expensive Typo Of All Time!


The drama begins with a simple order.

A single share of the company "J-Com" ...



... is to be sold on behalf of a customer for 610,000 yen - the equivalent of around 4,600 Euros. For the Japanese financial house Mizuho Securities ...



... a mini-order on December 8, 2005 and a young trader employed at Mizuho Securities - and probably seriously overtired - would have had a routine that is really quickly completed ...



... pay close attention.

But the trader swaps the price and quantity and writes in the electronic trading system of the Tokyo Stock Exchange:



"Sell 610,000" J-Com shares for one yen each".
It's what computer specialists call a "fat finger bug"!



Just two minutes later, an assistant at "Mizuho Securities"noticed the mishap. But it is too late - the order cannot be stopped.

The erroneously absurdly low selling price makes the demand rise upwards!

The dealers rush to buy cheap papers from "J-Com", a Japanese temporary employment agency that handles recruitment ...:





The stockbrokers don't care that something must have obviously gone wrong. Despite many attempts, the deal cannot be canceled.

The software of the Tokyo Stock Exchange turns out to be defective - no one has taken into account a "fat finger error" when writing the software.

The price of the "J-Com" share crashes ...



... the market is flooded with papers that the trading house does not even own. Mizuho has no choice but to buy the offered shares on the market itself, but there are not that many "J-Com" shares in free trading.

Now the "J-Com" rate is going completely crazy, being whipped up by the high demand. At least now it is clear to the last one on the market: Something is going really wrong here ...!



Actually, the second security level should now have taken effect, as is common, for example, at other trading venues:

There trading is interrupted in the event of extreme price fluctuations.

But that doesn't happen in Tokyo - rather too late, namely the next day!

But by then it is already too late for "Mizuho". The broker firm cannot deliver shares and is now ready to compensate the buyers with a total of almost 300 million euros - 40 trillion yen!

That is more than the annual profit of the financial group - and "Mizuo" is not insured against the consequences of a "fat finger error"!



The unfortunate employee, who was probably overwhelmed by all the hectic trading and shouting at the stock exchange, is of course immediately off his job!

The head of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Takuo Tsurushima, was also fired two days later - or rather he had to resign "to save his face" ...



It's the most expensive typo ever ...!

I bet a certain Hungarian ex-pat got his hands on some!

Phil