Is it possible the little-used rule 48 to tame the wild market

The New York Stock Exchange invoked the little-used Rule 48 to pre-empt panic trading at the stock market open for the second day in a row on Tuesday. In a historic move, the exchange used the rule before Monday's open following a dramatic drop in pre-market open futures, including the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures falling more than 700 points. On Tuesday morning, the Dow shot up by more than 300 points in the first minutes of the market open.

The goal of Rule 48 is to ensure orderly trading amid financial market turbulence. It's only used in the event that extremely high market volatility.

Unlike a circuit breaker that stops stock trading, Rule 48 speeds up the opening by suspending the requirement that stock prices be announced at the market open. Those prices have to be approved by stock market floor managers before trading actually begins.

To invoke Rule 48, an exchange would have to determine that certain conditions exist that would cause market disruptions. Those conditions include: volatility during the previous day's trading session, trading in foreign markets before the open, substantial activity in the futures market before the open, the volume of pre-opening indications of interest or government announcements.