Local traders recover despite New York Stock Exchange trade halt

CHICAGO (WLS) -- When the New York Stock Exchange stopped trading Wednesday morning due to what's being called a "technical problem," the effect could be felt in Chicago as well.

But trader Scott Shellady wouldn't call it panic.

"I would say there was some nervousness, you know we didn't lose our heads but there was some definite nervousness on the floor," Shellady said.

Traders came to work already jittery as issues continue with Greece and its creditors, a steep drop in China's markets and then United grounding flights because of computer problems. All three sent a nervous ripple through the markets that slowly recovered.

"The local story is that our exchanges came out and put a floor underneath some of our stock indexes and the international story is that we had to worry about stock investors from China selling here as well, so we buffered ourselves, we got ready for it but it really didn't materialize that way and it ended up ok," Shellady said.

Ivy Marden is an average investor. She says she didn't feel a thing Wednesday.

"It's something that doesn't happen all the time and then it's a technical glitch as well, so I think I should be worried about it more but after I took a look, I don't think I should be," Marden said.

Meanwhile just this past Monday, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange closed most of its futures trading pits, moving things further into the electronic realm as the open outcry tradition is disappearing.

Larry Shover with SFG Alternatives points to Wednesday's NYSE glitch as an example of why human intervention can't be lost.

"I mean we just closed most of the pits down here a few days ago in Chicago and you know computer trading and all that is great, but there needs to be human intervention, humans need to be able to trade with one another when there are glitches like this," Shover said.

The Department of Homeland Security says there is no indication that the NYSE glitch is related to any kind of cyber attack, and NYSE also says there was no security breach.