Rejecting a report in the British newspaper "The Times" Eurex stated that trading neither in these products nor in the market as a whole was interrupted at any time. Also the not orderly trading did not result from a single order entry at a wrong price or of a wrong size. The Eurex system prevents such errors through various safeguards introduced in May this year after consultation with the market. These safeguards include maximum order sizes per product as well as price limit validation.
Following these order entries prices for the Euro STOXX futures fell from 2400 points to a low of 493 points and rose back to the previous level within a minute's time from 5.48 p.m. to 5.49 p.m.
In the Euro STOXX 50 futures trades were cancelled that traded below 2,342 points for the December 2002 expiry, below 2,356 points for the March 2003 expiry and below 2,328 for the June 2003 expiry. In the STOXX 50 futures trades were annulled that traded below 2,447 points for the December 2002 expiry, below 2,446 points for the March 2003 expiry and below 2,434 for the June 2003 expiry.