Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger press conference at the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting, April 30, 2022.'s Class A shares are among the market's most expensive stocks priced above $400,000 apiece and therefore it was often one of the least traded well-known companies. So a surge in volume that began over a year ago left many scratching their heads.
Now new research released Wednesday has shed light on this trading frenzy and concluded that a change in how"This volume is due to the interaction of a well-intentioned but misguided FINRA reporting rule, Robinhood trading, and fractional shares," wrote the authors — Robert Bartlett at University of California, Berkeley, Justin McCrary at Columbia University and Maureen O'Hara at Cornell University.
Trading volumes for this pricey name surged more than tenfold in March 2021 from its average daily volume of just 375 shares over the past decade, according to the study. Volumes have stayed at these elevated levels. "FINRA is already actively working on the issue, and is engaged in ongoing discussions with firms and regulators," a FINRA spokesperson told CNBC on Wednesday. "The current trade reporting systems do not support the entry of a fractional share quantity. FINRA's guidance on trade reporting needs to be understood in that context."