Comments on: 1987 Crash Revisited http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/10/1987-crash-revisited-4/ Macro Perspective on the Capital Markets, Economy, Geopolitics, Technology, and Digital Media Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:55:10 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.5 By: Anal_yst http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/10/1987-crash-revisited-4/comment-page-1/#comment-227485 Anal_yst Tue, 20 Oct 2009 03:46:15 +0000 http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/?p=41634#comment-227485 @ constantnormal Hate to break it to you, but alot of the big brokerage houses are still using some of that same "technology" today. Its ridiculous(ly antiquated, slow, everything bad you could think), no one really invested in back/middle-office infrastructure when they were minting $ through the early/middle part of this decade. FAIL. @ constantnormal

Hate to break it to you, but alot of the big brokerage houses are still using some of that same “technology” today. Its ridiculous(ly antiquated, slow, everything bad you could think), no one really invested in back/middle-office infrastructure when they were minting $ through the early/middle part of this decade. FAIL.

]]> By: constantnormal http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/10/1987-crash-revisited-4/comment-page-1/#comment-227406 constantnormal Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:39:36 +0000 http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/?p=41634#comment-227406 I got scared by the drop on Friday evening -- courtesy of the evening news reports and Saturday's WSJ coverage (pre-web, kiddies -- widespread public access to financial data via the web arrived a few years later), and on Monday morning called my broker and told him to sell everything -- at market -- before the opening (yes, that's a really stupid thing to do, but it turned out to be <b><i>exactly</i></b> the thing to do in this case). At noon, I phoned him back to see what kind of executions I had received. No confirmations. The Merrill Lynch trade reporting system had pretty much collapsed under the load, and by the end of the day I still had no confirmations. I began to get worried, as things were down a LOT by then. No confirmations by the end of trading Tuesday either. By this point I was pretty numb. By the end of Wednesday, I finally had confirmations, and the prices were pretty close to where things had opened on Monday. I was full of confidence at that point, having escaped the bulk of the collapse, and it looked as though things had bottomed. So on Thursday morning, I put it all back in, and even did a little margin buying. Never again was I to be as lucky as I was that week. I got scared by the drop on Friday evening — courtesy of the evening news reports and Saturday’s WSJ coverage (pre-web, kiddies — widespread public access to financial data via the web arrived a few years later), and on Monday morning called my broker and told him to sell everything — at market — before the opening (yes, that’s a really stupid thing to do, but it turned out to be exactly the thing to do in this case). At noon, I phoned him back to see what kind of executions I had received. No confirmations. The Merrill Lynch trade reporting system had pretty much collapsed under the load, and by the end of the day I still had no confirmations. I began to get worried, as things were down a LOT by then. No confirmations by the end of trading Tuesday either. By this point I was pretty numb. By the end of Wednesday, I finally had confirmations, and the prices were pretty close to where things had opened on Monday. I was full of confidence at that point, having escaped the bulk of the collapse, and it looked as though things had bottomed. So on Thursday morning, I put it all back in, and even did a little margin buying.

Never again was I to be as lucky as I was that week.

]]> By: bmoseley http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/10/1987-crash-revisited-4/comment-page-1/#comment-227393 bmoseley Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:24:17 +0000 http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/?p=41634#comment-227393 i clearly remember the day after. my coworkers and i thought the 30s were coming FAST. it was really shocking. for a little while i clearly remember the day after. my coworkers and i thought the 30s were coming FAST. it was really shocking. for a little while

]]> By: Dave J http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/10/1987-crash-revisited-4/comment-page-1/#comment-227346 Dave J Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:58:31 +0000 http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/?p=41634#comment-227346 The book Liars Poker by Michael Lewis talks about the causes of the crash. It also paints a vivid picture of the bizarro-world inside the Wall Street firms. It's a great read. The book Liars Poker by Michael Lewis talks about the causes of the crash. It also paints a vivid picture of the bizarro-world inside the Wall Street firms. It’s a great read.

]]> By: Its_Science http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/10/1987-crash-revisited-4/comment-page-1/#comment-227341 Its_Science Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:46:10 +0000 http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/?p=41634#comment-227341 Maybe try using a <a href="http://www.google.com/finance?chdnp=1&chdd=1&chds=1&chdv=1&chvs=Logarithmic&chdeh=0&chdet=1255984989402&chddm=4038248&chls=IntervalBasedLine&q=INDEXDJX:.DJI&ntsp=0" rel="nofollow">log scale</a>? Maybe try using a log scale?

]]> By: Forbes http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/10/1987-crash-revisited-4/comment-page-1/#comment-227324 Forbes Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:47:52 +0000 http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/?p=41634#comment-227324 Here is a link to videos of Wall Street Week with Louis Rukeyser as well as The Nightly Business Report for the period October 16-23 1987 http://www.youtube.com/user/crashof1987#p/u/9/2MyToTwag34 Here is a link to videos of Wall Street Week with Louis Rukeyser as well as The Nightly Business Report for the period October 16-23 1987

http://www.youtube.com/user/crashof1987#p/u/9/2MyToTwag34

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