MovieChat Forums > How the Universe Works (2010) Discussion > Weird comment about GPS

Weird comment about GPS

posted 9 years ago by Wingman_S
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In episode 8 Forces of Mass Construction, they are talking about solar storms effecting satellites and stuff and that we could lose GPS followed by what they seem to feel is the worst case scenario and I quote:

"GPS is used by every stock market across the globe, without satellites the worlds financial infrastructure could crash"

My question here is what function does GPS play in stock trading? It struck me as a bizarre statement and it seems like they might be confusing GPS as being an abbreviation for general communication satellites, why would people trading stocks from fixed locations require GPS? Unless they are only using the time data from those satellites, but there are many alternatives to that.

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[–] OddsAreIAmRight 8 years ago

From:
http://www.exelisinc.com/solutions/signalsentry/Documents/ThreatOfGPSJamming_February2014.pdf

The Stock Market
In February of 2012, a story in the U.K. Metro newspaper read “GPS jammers could make criminals millions in the stock market. Fraudsters could make millions in seconds by hacking into GPS systems synchronizing stock market deals around the world, experts are warning.”16 Every trade is time-stamped using GPS clocks that are monitored by computer systems down to the millisecond. Many programs are designed to pull out of the market if something seems amiss, opening the door to a liquidity crisis or even a potential mini-market crash