Reporters learn early on that they're not supposed to ask, "How did it feel?" The answer is usually, "How do you THINK it felt?"
I'm asking anyhow.
How did Thursday's market mayhem feel to you? What was it like to watch something so crazy?
For me, it was both frightening and exciting.
And educational.
I learned the phrase "Co-location osmosis", which I thought was a digestive disorder.
Now I know it only causes one, the kind that had traders reaching for Pampers as P&G stock went down the toilet .
But for one group of people shorting the market, this was perhaps the most jubilant moment ever. Check out this hilarious video...things get good about a minute 20 in.
Then came the relieved laughter as the market started to recover and many investors realized it was a GOOD THING THEY COULDN'T COMPLETE ANY TRADES at the bottom of the cycle. ?
When word came out that the crisis may have been caused by someone typing "b" for billion instead of "m" for million, colleague Kevin Goldman quipped: "What a boron". Someone responded that the responsible party should be Mitch slapped. And Matt Nesto's sister (Batt Nesto?) wrote him, ''Just watched Cramer on with Batt Lauer.. oops finger slip.. I meant Matt...''
Mrilliant!
Easy to laugh now. It wasn't so easy to laugh then.
Here are how some people on Twitter described those 15 minutes to me at Twitter .
@TodayTrader: "Like being handcuffed in the backseat of a speeding car with a lunatic chimpanzee driving on a mountain road!"
@otterom: "Glad I'm only on the first floor."
@j2lovesfriday: "Yesterday felt like watching 'War Games' for real...Machines rule!"
@aileenmarkowsky: "I will not sell $AAPL I will not sell $AAPL I will not sell $AAPL Thank you $VIX calls Thank you $GLD calls."
@IamTay: "Watching the Mkt dive? 'Can I log on fast to enuf to hit the keyboards to grab at these prices?!' like 'SALE!!!'"
@onehandman: "Went 2 CNBC and 1st thought was: how much Valium did Cramer take? He's leaned back saying: the machines failed, MACHINES FAAAIILL."
@AndyMaddocks: "Thoughts during mkt plunge: 1st, 'Glad I read Taleb's stuff'; then thought, new CNBC Reality Show: 'Fat-Fingered Tony the Trader'"
@HellNoYouDidn't: "Under Obama, I know this country is going to be run into oblivion, I just didn't think May 6, 2010 was going to be the day."
@dkneupper had this "news": BREAKING: "SEC cites National Day of Prayer as likely cause of Flash Crash. 'Main St. does not like Wall St., and they tried something new.'"
And @DeeRaz says it felt like this (warning, painful ):
How did it feel to you? Leave your comment below.