Trading Halt

A temporary pause in trading of a particular security, imposed by the exchange or regulators, usually due to a pending news announcement, order imbalance, or extreme price movement. LULD (Limit Up-Limit Down) circuit breakers can trigger automatic halts on individual stocks, while market-wide circuit breakers pause all trading if the S&P 500 drops 7%, 13%, or 20% in a single session. Halts are designed to give investors time to absorb information and prevent panic-driven cascades.