question archive On October 2, 2002, a clerk at Bear Stearns had erroneously entered an order to sell nearly $4 billion worth of securities
Subject:BusinessPrice: Bought3
On October 2, 2002, a clerk at Bear Stearns had erroneously entered an order to sell nearly $4 billion worth of securities. The trader had sent the clerk an order to sell $4 million worth. Only $622 million of the orders were executed when the error was found and the remainder of the orders were cancelled. Reports stated that it was a human error, not a computer error, and that it was the fault of the clerk, not the trader.