Why Did the Stock Market Just Stop Trading?

The stock market has been increasingly volatile in recent weeks, and the moves to the downside have gotten steeper as worries about the coronavirus and other market disruptions have gotten worse. On Monday, many investors were surprised to learn just minutes after the market's normal 9:30 a.m. EDT open that trading would be halted temporarily. That in itself caused some consternation, especially among those who were looking to make stock trades based on the weekend's events.

As surprising as they were to some, the rules governing the trading curbs that happened early on March 9 have been in place for years. Although it's the first time a stock market halt has occurred since the 2008 market meltdown, these provisions -- also known as "circuit breakers" -- are intended to keep violent market movements as orderly as possible.

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Source Fool.com