Isn't the stock market supposed to automatically close if it drops more than 3%?

Question

it looks like the dow is down 3.23 or close to that

Answer 1

Trading curbs kick in at 500 points I believe.

Oil stops trading after gaining over 10 dollars

Which happened today

Answer 2

circuit breaker is what you are looking for

it's based on percentage drop

10% - 1 hour halt

20% - 2 hour halt

30% market closes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trading_cur...

Answer 3

No.  There are "Circuit Breaker" programs to protect the markets, but they only kick in at 10%, 20%, and 30% drops.  At 10% it halts for a while, longer with 20% and closes for 30%, etc.  It all depends on how long until the markets close.  I'll link a page with some details.