Even as nervous stockbrokers and investors watch the Sensex shudder and shed 882 points, since the beginning of trade on Monday, the bloodbath is only expected to get worse.

While the Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex plummetted by 882 points, the National Stock Exchange has lost 276 points.

The crash has forced authorities to freeze trading.

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Though trading is expected to resume at 1320 IST, brokers and analysts say that trading is likely to be halted within moments of the market re-opening.

According to BSE laws, in case of a 20 per cent movement of the index, the trading will be halted for the remainder of the day, while in case of a 15 per cent movement before 1 p.m., the market is halted for two hours.

Another 5 percent fall -- which brokers and analysts see as a very strong possibility -- will trigger off the index circuit breaker.

"There is a large number of sell orders that we can see coming. So it is likely that once the market resumes, it will fall within minutes and trading will be stopped for the entire day," says a market analyst.