NYSE price-bands tech glitch causes Berkshire Hathaway Class A stocks to lose $908,650,000,000 in market cap before fix

A technical glitch in the calculation of price bands on the New York Stock Exchange has caused about six dozen stocks including Berkshire Hathaway Class A stocks to momentarily lose up to 99.97% of their value. Most of the affected stocks have resumed trading, but a handful are still on pause. The NYSE stated that the glitch originated from the Consolidated Tape Association price bands data and was fixed before noon.

The Limit Up Limit Down (LULD) price bands are designed to “mitigate extraordinary market volatility and extreme price movements in individual securities”, such as those seen in the markets during the 2008 US market crash caused by the subprime mortgage crisis during the Great Recession. The glitch occurred in the CTA data between 9:30 am and 10:27 am ET, and the CTA thinks it may have been caused by a software update that it has now rolled back.

Berkshire Hathaway Class A stocks closed on Friday at $627,400 and dropped to $185.10 Monday before trading was halted. Total market capitalization on Friday was $908.92 billion, resulting in a momentary loss of $908.65 billion due to the technical glitch. The stock is still down for the day after resuming trading.

Although price swings affect all markets, readers who have already begun investing in digital assets such as Bitcoins might want to hold onto their savings in a physical wallet to counter threats such as online wallet theft. Readers in IT managing high-volume servers might want to look into using digital twins to test software updates in before crashing the real world.

The NYSE is reviewing all affected trades and possible trade cancellation actions. There may be additional stocks affected by the glitch, and the NYSE is working to identify them. A source speaking to the Financial Times says the glitch was not caused by the recent switch to one-day settlements.