# MSOFT Stock Trading Halted on News...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msoft-stock-trading-halted-on-news/70489>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 28, 2001, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msoft-stock-trading-halted-on-news/70489 "2001-06-28T17:10:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2001, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msoft-stock-trading-halted-on-news/70489/1 "2001-06-28T17:10:21Z")

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The news that Microsoft may have dodged a bullet caused their stock to rise over 3 points this morning before “trading was halted”. Why would it be halted? What’s so bad about a single stock going up too fast?

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**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2001, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msoft-stock-trading-halted-on-news/70489/2 "2001-06-28T18:44:17Z")

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Trading of a specific stock is generally halted when big news about the company comes out.

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**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2001, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msoft-stock-trading-halted-on-news/70489/3 "2001-06-28T18:50:16Z")

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“good” or “bad” isn’t the issue with a market halt. Order imbalance is - in either direction (too many buyers OR too many sellers). They halted to allow the news to get digested in hopes that an orderly market can be maintained when they open it up again.