An options malfunction was incurred by Goldman Sachs yesterday. This showed the dangers in the electronic markets had not gone away despite efforts to shore up the condition. Options errors in electronic markets were said to be the biggest trading catastrophes in the US.

Goldman Sachs sent unintentional stock options orders after programming errors occurred during the first minutes of trading. This caused a push in prices and dozens of contracts to increase by as much as a dollar. This was according to a person briefed regarding the matter yesterday and also from the data compiled by Bloomberg.

The source said that Goldman Sachs losses were still left unseen until exchanges determine which contract should be cancelled. The source asked not to be named as the matter was held to be private in nature. Goldman Sachs is the fifth biggest bank by assets in the United States. The error incurred at Goldman Sachs showed that breakdowns are still inevitable. This caused worry among investors who wary about the increasing dominance of the electronic exchanges in the market.