The 1st market-wide trading halt since 1997 (it's a "stop-the-drop" strategy)

15-minute meditation break sponsored by... the NYSE. On Monday morning, panicked investors — with coronavirus and plunging oil prices on their minds — unleashed a flood of stocks on the market. Just 5 little minutes into the trading day, the S&P 500 fell a stunning 7% on the selling frenzy. Then, there was silence: the drop triggered a circuit breaker that automatically halted trading across the entire market — for 15 minutes.

• Investors get 'time-out' because circuit breakers are meant to prevent a market debacle — they give investors time to calm down, absorb info, and slow the freak-out cycle.
• When investors returned from their 15-min breaks, indexes bounced up a tad from their lows.

3 strikes, you're out... There are 3 levels of breakers, each with a different severity (think grade-school punishments):

• S&P 500 falls 7% from previous day's close?: The only one we experienced yesterday and the "least bad" one. That triggers a 15-minute time-out.
• Falls 13% before 3:25 PM?: 2nd warning — another 15-minutes to get it together (this time, facing the classroom wall).
• Falls 20%: Final trigger that shuts down the market for the rest of the day (go home and think about what you've done).