Dark Pools Said to Direct Orders Elsewhere as U.S. Volume Surged

Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) — Three of the largest dark pools told customers to trade elsewhere during at least part of today’s session as concern about Ebola and global economic growth spurred the busiest day for U.S. stocks in three years.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Credit Suisse Group AG and UBS AG told some clients to temporarily stop sending orders as volume surged, according to people with knowledge of the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity. The instructions came as the broader market processed 11.9 billion shares, the most since Oct. 27, 2011, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Dark pools, private trading systems usually owned by banks, are just one component of the fragmented U.S. equity market, where trading is spread across 11 exchanges and more than 40 alternative platforms. Older venues such as the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Stock Market didn’t report any issues.

The dark pools’ requests didn’t prevent the U.S. equity markets from working normally for the vast majority of investors. Volume today was several times greater than the busiest days during the 1990s technology bubble.

“Today shows that the market has the capacity to transact large volumes in a very volatile environment,” said Remco Lenterman, managing director at IMC, an Amsterdam-based market maker. “Sure there are issues, but in the end of the day investors have the ability to transact very large transactions in a very deep and liquid market, no matter what critics will want you to believe.”

Drawing Scrutiny

Regulators are scrutinizing dark pools as part of broader probes into whether computerization has left the U.S. stock market too complex for individual investors to understand. According to Rosenblatt Securities Inc., about 17 percent of trading takes place on the private venues, where offers to buy and sell stocks are cloaked until trades are completed.

Tiffany Galvin, a Goldman Sachs spokeswoman, declined to comment, as did Credit Suisse’s Nicole Sharp and UBS’s Karina Byrne.

Issues at Credit Suisse’s Crossfinder dark pool affected less than 5 percent of its clients, according to a person familiar with the matter. The UBS disruption lasted from about 3:25 p.m. to 3:57 p.m. New York time, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and UBS weren’t the only dark pool operators to experience temporary issues, according to one trader who buys and sells shares across different venues.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sam Mamudi in New York at [e-mail] To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Baker at [e-mail] Chris Nagi