AAPL's Flash Crash-sort of...

Yesterday AAPL saw a mini flash crash. Whenever I see these I try to document them as I think they'll be more and more common.

AAPL shows the exact same characteristics as ever other Flash Crash I've documented, there's 3C distribution right before (I'm guessing HFT's are getting short) and then they fall. Detecting them is almost impossible when there's 10,000 different assets, but dealing with them is another matter. I've noted that they generally recoup "most" of the crash, which means don't sell into a flash crash, but wait for the recovery which I suspect is the other side of the trade going long at the bottom as they cover, they drive prices back up. The other lesson is, having a stop in place with your broker means it's likely you'll get taken out and won't be able to recoup the losses.

So keep those two findings in mind-don't panic and try not to have a stop on the books if at al possible.