I had to look this up…
Circuit breakers are designed to give the market time to cool off when price swings get too volatile. They halt trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) when the S&P 500 hits predetermined levels.
Here are the levels to watch before trading is halted again or canceled today.
Level One (7% drop) – a 15 minute pause.
Level Two (13% drop) – a further 15 minute pause.
Level Three (20% drop) – Trading is closed for the day.
There is one caveat. The circuit breakers only kick in if the S&P 500 hits these levels before 3:25 pm ET.If the plunge accelerates past these marks after that time, there is no safety net until the closing bell.
So if things go to hell after 3:25, all bets are off.
The red line is the DJIA when Trump took office. If it gets to that, all the dummies who said, “Well, I don’t like Trump, but I like my 401k right now.” can suck it.