IIROC and Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) are trying to find a way to exorcize the ghost of 5/6 stock market plunges that many now equate with a bloodbath.

“The events of May 6 indicate how rapidly market conditions can change,” said Jean St-Gelais, CSA chair and president and chief executive officer of the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (Québec). “The CSA and IIROC are addressing the key risk factors and are committed to reviewing the existing market regulatory framework to ensure protection of investors and market integrity.”

The Canadian regulators are piecing together issues raised by the recent market volatility that shook up the U.S. and Canadian marketplaces.

“In today’s dynamic markets, where trading is increasing in speed and complexity, the CSA and IIROC are looking very closely at the risks involved in electronic trading,” said St-Gelais.

The CSA and IIROC are engaged in active dialogue with other regulators, marketplaces and market participants to examine issues related to the market volatility as well as the increased reliance on electronic trading.

“IIROC is continuing to closely monitor all trading on Canadian equity marketplaces to ensure market integrity,” said Susan Wolburgh Jenah, IIROC president and CEO.

The IIROC are trying to identify any potential regulatory issues by conducting a review of trading that occurred during this period of extreme volatility, said Jenah.

In Canada, there is one set of rules, the Universal Market Integrity Rules (UMIR), that apply to trading on all equity marketplaces. IIROC is reviewing all relevant policies and practices under UMIR pertaining to these issues.

UMIR rules allow IIROC to halt or suspend trading on a stock-by-stock basis or to impose a market-wide halt through the use of circuit breakers, which are applied consistently to all Canadian equity marketplaces. The Canadian regulators are examining the appropriateness of this circuit breaker policy.

The comprehensive analysis of the events will also examine a number of electronic trading issues, such as the need to standardize parameters used by Canadian stock exchanges and Alternative Trading Systems (ATSs).

Some marketplaces use “freeze parameters” on their trading engines that allow them to freeze trading in specific securities where a significant price fluctuation occurs. The system helps them determine if a sudden price movement is due to potentially erroneous trades.

The use of these parameters, however, is not consistent amongst the exchanges and ATSs, and the CSA and IIROC are addressing that inconsistency.