[rorrr]

It happened very quickly, after years of operations.

Technically, it can take seconds to lose that much.

What they did wrong is do all their trading with the same algorithm. Way to put all eggs in one basket.

[patdennis]

According to the article, it took them a half hour to shut it down. That's more than a few seconds.

But as a torrent of faulty trades spewed Wednesday morning from a Knight Capital Group trading program, no one at the firm managed to stop it for more than a half-hour.

[lostlogin]

It wasn't after years of operation. The article states that the system was brand new.

[sp332]

I'm pretty sure they don't do all their trading with one algorithm. What makes you think they do?