Volatility is the norm these days as the markets experience dramatic ups and downs amid the global financial crisis. The government announces a bailout plan - the market tanks. The government announces tweaks to the bailout plan - the market jumps.rnIn fact five of the 10 biggest point declines on record for the Dow Jones Industrial Average occurred in September and October of this year. Five-, six-, even seven-hundred-point drops have become commonplace, and traders have been on a roller-coaster ride of gains and losses (see related table, page 22). It's a brave new trading world, and volatile markets reign.rnMany observers have been quick to point the finger at widespread electronic trading - in particular, program trading - as the major culprit behind stocks' wild ride. Program trading as defined by the New York Stock Exchange is "a wide range of portfolio trading strategies involving the [electronic] purchase or sale of 15 or more stocks having a total market value of $1 million or more."
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