"Zero-dollar purchase" Berkshire Hathaway? NYSE announced overnight "abnormal trading" invalid

Overnight, the world's largest stock exchange experienced a major incident. Due to a technical glitch, Berkshire Hathaway Class A shares under Buffett plunged 100%, affecting stocks such as Barrick Gold and Nuscale Power, which were subsequently halted.

The glitch was quickly resolved, and all affected stocks had resumed trading before noon local time.

Exchange data showed that before the halt, someone "bottom-fished" 8 shares of Berkshire Hathaway Class A stock at a price of $185.1 per share. Berkshire A shares are one of the highest-priced stocks in the market, with a normal trading price exceeding $620,000, about 45% higher than the median U.S. home price.

If the NYSE acknowledges this loophole trade, the lucky individual's stock value would instantly increase by over 3400 times.

Unfortunately, this is not possible.

After the NYSE closed on Monday afternoon, it stated that all trades of Berkshire Class A shares conducted between 9:50-9:51 local time below $603,718.3 were deemed invalid. The NYSE is also reviewing approximately 40 securities affected by the glitch.

The Consolidated Tape Association (CTA), responsible for publishing real-time trading data on stock exchanges, stated that Monday's glitch was related to new software at one of the association's data centers.

Following the glitch resolution, Berkshire Class A shares closed at $631,110 on Monday, up 0.6% for the day.

In the past, the NYSE has had precedents of canceling trades due to technical glitches. Last year, the NYSE had to cancel thousands of trades because of a human error that caused hundreds of stocks to trade without price limits.

This is the second serious technical glitch in the U.S. stock market within a week. A few days ago, due to data feedback issues from index provider S&P Global, real-time data for indices like the S&P 500 disappeared from investors' screens for about an hour