How circuit breakers work for the stock market and some of the opportunities and drawbacks.

The Dow plunged 1,089 points Monday on the open, prompting investors to ask us, "Will the stock market shut down today?" You see, if markets fall far enough, circuit breakers kick in and halt ...

But many investors and others may not know what the market circuit breaker is and why it is so important. What is a market circuit breaker? How does a circuit breaker work? What are single-stock ...

Home Investing How Do Stock Market Circuit Breakers Work? Trading halts are designed to give investors a chance to breathe when things get ugly. Here's how they function.

Six minutes after trading began on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, it was suddenly halted. That's when the S&P 500 index had plummeted 7% and marketwide circuit breakers kicked in.

If U.S. stock prices plummet today, they could trigger so-called circuit breakers that would temporarily halt trading.

Trading on the New York Stock Exchange was halted briefly Monday morning when the S&P 500 index fell 7%. Here's how these automatic circuit breakers work.

Circuit breakers - or trading halts - were first introduced after the Black Monday crash of October 1987. The Dow dropped almost 23% in a single session, which stands as a record to this day.