From a Reuters report
on a CTFC meeting discussing high-frequency trading, emphasis
mine:
The CFTC’s arcane technology has been outpaced by the
state-of-the-art hardware and software used by the traders it
polices. It finds itself grappling with the complexities of
sub-millisecond trades and terahertz processors as technology
becomes an even more vital component of the futures and
derivatives markets.
The futures regulator still relies on fax
machines to receive some trade information, an
anachronism it can no longer afford as it grapples with a
five-fold surge in U.S. futures trading volume over the past
decade and prepares to take oversight of even larger
over-the-counter derivatives markets.
Hat tip:
Planet Money.
Ryan| 7.15.10 @ 11:04AM
I think that there's a question that needs to be discussed - is all this micro-trading done by computers a true free market? Is it a form of manipulation?
My concern is that it is - I can't jump on my account and make those sorts of trades from my keyboard, and my paltry buys and sells don't move the market price.
Indiana Alex| 7.15.10 @ 3:34PM
High Frequency Trading has done more to add market liquidity than market manipulation. Looking at both the cash and futures markets during the latest "event", the futures market led the recovery quite nicely, as expected.
There are abuses, such as "flashing", (entering and canceling quickly to flash and order that doesn't exist), but this can be done by a keyboard as well as a computer.