Despite a technical glitch that led to the NYSE trading floor halt Wednesday, the markets are robust and the problem will be contained, trader Kenny Polcari said.
"The market is very robust," the director of O'Neil Securities told CNBC's "Halftime Report" on Wednesday.
"In that sense, it's robust because there are alternative venues where stocks can trade and in fact that's what you see happening now."
Read MoreTrading halted on NYSE floor
Trading in all symbols was halted on the New York Stock Exchange floor around 11:32 a.m. ET on Wednesday due to an apparent technical issue. The exchange was investigating the issue that caused the halt, Reuters reported, citing a source.
"NYSE/NYSE MKT has temporarily suspended trading in all symbols. Additional information will follow as soon as possible," the NYSE said in a statement on its status page.
Read More United Airlines flights restored after worldwide groundstop
"It's just a NYSE issue at the moment," Polcari said. "In that sense it shouldn't raise the panic level."
He explained that the NYSE is no longer the only marketplace where trades can happen. Due to technology, trades happen across several venues, most of which are electronic.
"Our markets are robust, they are stable," he said. "Stocks in this country have not come to a standstill."
The real question, he said, is how mutual funds and ETFs will price stocks at the closing bell.
"So many mutual funds and ETFs price off the listed closing price which has always been the New York Stock Exchange. On Nasdaq, it's the Nasdaq closing price. For listed securities it's always been the New York Stock Exchange. So that's going to be the question as we move closer to 4 p.m. If they are unable to, for whatever reason, to get it up and running again, how are they going to do that?"
—CNBC's Jacob Pramuk contributed to this report.