(Bloomberg) — Bats Global Markets Inc., the fourth- largest U.S. stock exchange operator, shut its main market for almost an hour today amid a malfunction in its computer systems.
Bats said routing to its BZX exchange was suspended at 1:04 p.m. New York time and resumed at 2:01 p.m., according to statements on the company’s website. The exchange operator is “working to uncover the root of the issue,” said Randy Williams, a spokesman for Lenexa, Kansas-based Bats.
The systems malfunction is the latest black eye for Bats, which was forced to cancel its initial public offering in March 2012 after the company couldn’t get its own stock trading. In January, Bats said computer issues allowed about 12,000 trades that violated rules intended to ensure all investors get the best prices for equities.
“The problem they are going to run into if they continue to have these issues is that people are not going to choose them to execute because they are not reliable.” Frank Ingarra, head trader at Greenwich, Connecticut-based NorthCoast Asset Management LLC, said in a phone interview. His firm manages $1.7 billion. “These guys have had some problems. There are plenty of other exchanges that people can route to.”
Before today, the Bats BZX Exchange handled about 8.7 percent of average daily trading volume in the U.S. stock market in 2013, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
