Wall Street's "Flash Crash" Stars in Its Own Feature Film
On May 6, 2010 a sudden stock market dip of 1000 points erased over $862 billion in U.S. equity value in less than 20 minutes. Now Hollywood is explaining how it all works.
SHERMAN OAKS, CA, October 01, 2010
At first the media nicknamed the plummet "Stock Shock" ...which is coincidentally the title of a newly released documentary about stock market crashes. Later the SEC called the event a "flash crash." No matter the name, it was a couple of hours of sheer terror for traders on Wall Street. That is, unless you were a trader interested in short selling.The movie "Stock Shock" focuses on the practice short selling as an investment. Traders borrow a stock long enough to make money on any price decrease it may have. It's a tough concept to grasp, but the movie lays out the details using cartoons, quirky investors, and men in tight underwear. Strangely, concepts like naked short selling, flash trading, and stock manipulation begin to make sense.
"Stock Shock" uses the plight of Sirius XM shareholders to show that abusive hedge fund trading and media manipulation can drive a solid 10.00 stock down to a mere 5 cents per share. It is one of the only movies that clearly explains naked short selling as it relates to the concept of a "flash crash."
The Wall Street Journal reports that a detailed report on the flash crash is expected some time this week. Many investors believe the reinstatement of the uptick rule would do the trick. The uptick rule refers to a trading restriction that disallows short selling of securities except on an uptick. For the rule to be satisfied, the short sale must be either at a price above the last traded price of the security. This rule was put in place after the Great Depression to help falling stocks from going off a cliff and creating a selling frenzy. It was removed in 2007 and short selling has since been more popular than ever.
"Stock Shock" is available on DVD at http://www.flashcrashmovie.com
FlashCrashMovie.com focuses films that expose egregious short selling, flash trading, and manipulation of stock. It is one of the only sites that clearly explains naked short selling and the concept of a "flash crash."