Tesla Shares Fall; Some Share Sales Stopped

Nasdaq "circuit-breaker" triggered

Tesla Motors share prices continued to plunge today even though some analysts said yesterday's after-hours drubbing was an overreaction. The drop shortly after the start of NASDAQ trading triggered the exchange's short-sale circuit breaker, which doesn't happen often.

The breaker temporarily stops the sale of borrowed shares by investors betting the price will keep falling so they can buy later, lower to replace the borrowed shares.

Tesla shares opened trading on the NASDAQ exchange at $155, about where they'd been in after-hours and pre-market trading. Share price fell to $146.71 before rebounding.

The official close Tuesday was $176.81.