Fat Finger Error

A fat-finger error is a slang term for a typing mistake. The term is widely used in finance industry. The term describes a typographical error caused by hitting the wrong key or by making a  mistake during data input process while placing the trading order.

Example

In October 2014, a Japanese broker erroneously placed orders for purchasing more than US$600 billion of stock in leading Japanese companies such as Nomura, Toyota Motors and Honda which flooded the Japan’s over the counter market. Fortunately, the order was canceled. Had the order been fulfilled it would have been worth more than the GDP of Sweden!