DJ Stoxx 50 (FSTX) March 09 Contract Price Spike

I was looking at the March 2009 European DJ STOXX 50 Futures (FSTX) chart. On February 26, 2009 (at 3:55 PM) on the 1 minute charts the contract was trading at 1764.

Then on the consecutive minute bar (which shows a date of February 27, 2009 (at 2:01 AM)) on the chart the price spiked to 2262 and 2250 in two consecutive minutes before returning to 1762 on the following minute.

This is a 500 point move in the matter of 1 - 2 minutes.

I have a couple questions:

1. What are potential causes of a spike like this?

2. What happens to everyone who was say short or long the contract at this time.

3. Did the shorts get stopped out or worse yet have a 500 point loss?

4. If a long sold their contract did they just pocket a 500 point profit.

5. How can a trader protect themselves against an event like this? If a hedge of some sort - if yes - for example?

Any feedback or thoughts regarding trading futures and experiencing spikes is greatly appreciated.

Thanks
 
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