This Element is an excerpt from Crapshoot Investing: How Tech Savvy Traders and Clueless Regulators Turned the Stock Market into a Casino (9780132599689) by Jim McTague. Available in print and digital formats. How the nerds took over Wall Street–and how their high-frequency, computer-driven trading impacts your portfolio. How did graduates from physics and math departments of top graduate schools end up swarming Wall Street? It was an unanticipated consequence of new SEC regulations intended to encourage electronic exchanges. The sudden fragmentation of the market resulted in unexpected complexity which, in turn, led to fleeting pricing discrepancies among trading venues. The nerds saw ways to exploit these inefficiencies.

The secrets of high-frequency trading revealed! “Edgar’s book is fantastic . . . I recommend it highly.” —Bart Chilton, Commissioner, United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) “I have interviewed the most successful high-frequency traders in New York and Chicago, but I have learned so much more by reading Perez’s book. He covers the most relevant topics we need to know today and tomorrow.” —Mark Abeshouse, Chairman, Augustus Capital “Alternating between an annotated timeline of the development of high-frequency trading and interviews with top high-frequency traders, Perez illuminates the world of speed. All in all, an enlightening book.” —Brenda Jubin, contributor to Seeking Alpha “This is a comprehensive and compelling summary of the trading industry in general, as well as high-frequency trading. If you are interested in this field or of knowing a critical component of all future markets—read this book.” —Paul Dowding, Managing Director, Meridian Equity Partners “Very timely, covers the 2010 Flash Crash and the current high-frequency trading environment.” —Patrick Sweeney, Vice President, JP Morgan Chase “There is a new day in trading and speed is the key. Edgar Perez is the poster child.” —Eugene Steele, Managing Partner, Trading Rooms World Wide About the Book: High-frequency traders have been called many things—from masters of the universe and market pioneers to exploiters, computer geeks, and even predators. Everyone in the business of investing has an opinion of speed traders, but how many really understand how they operate? The shadow people of the investing world, today’s high-frequency traders have decidedly kept a low profile—until now. In The Speed Traders, Edgar Perez, founder of the prestigious business networking community Golden Networking, opens the door to the secretive world of high-frequency trading (HFT). Inside, prominent figures of HFT drop their guard and speak with unprecedented candidness about their trade. Perez begins with an overview of computerized trading, which formally began on February 8, 1971, when NASDAQ launched the world’s first electronic market with 2,500 over-the-counter stocks and which has evolved into the present-day practice of making multiple trades in a matter of microseconds. He then picks the brains of today’s top players. Manoj Narang (Tradeworx), Peter van Kleef (Lakeview Arbitrage), and Aaron Lebovitz (Infinium Capital Management) are just a few of the luminaries who decided to break their silence and speak openly to Perez. Virtually all of the expertise available from the world of speed trading is packed into these pages. You’ll get insight from HFT’s most influential trailblazers on the important issues, including: The basics of launching an HFT platform The important role speed traders play in providing market liquidity The real story behind the “flash crash” of May 2010 Emerging global HFT markets M&A and consolidation among the world’s biggest exchanges The Speed Traders is the most comprehensive, revealing work available on the most important development in trading in generations. High-frequency trading will no doubt play an ever larger role as computer technology advances and the global exchanges embrace fast electronic access. Essential reading for regulators and investors alike, The Speed Traders explains everything there is to know about how today’s high-frequency traders make millions—one cent at a time.

This Element is an excerpt from Crapshoot Investing: How Tech Savvy Traders and Clueless Regulators Turned the Stock Market into a Casino (9780132599689) by Jim McTague. Available in print and digital formats. How the nerds took over Wall Street-and how their high-frequency, computer-driven trading impacts your portfolio. How did graduates from physics and math departments of top graduate schools end up swarming Wall Street? It was an unanticipated consequence of new SEC regulations intended to encourage electronic exchanges. The sudden fragmentation of the market resulted in unexpected com.

Argues that post-crisis Wall Street continues to be controlled by large banks and explains how a small, diverse group of Wall Street men have banded together to reform the financial markets.

A fully revised second edition of the best guide to high-frequency trading High-frequency trading is a difficult, but profitable, endeavor that can generate stable profits in various market conditions. But solid footing in both the theory and practice of this discipline are essential to success. Whether you're an institutional investor seeking a better understanding of high-frequency operations or an individual investor looking for a new way to trade, this book has what you need to make the most of your time in today's dynamic markets. Building on the success of the original edition, the Second Edition of High-Frequency Trading incorporates the latest research and questions that have come to light since the publication of the first edition. It skillfully covers everything from new portfolio management techniques for high-frequency trading and the latest technological developments enabling HFT to updated risk management strategies and how to safeguard information and order flow in both dark and light markets. Includes numerous quantitative trading strategies and tools for building a high-frequency trading system Address the most essential aspects of high-frequency trading, from formulation of ideas to performance evaluation The book also includes a companion Website where selected sample trading strategies can be downloaded and tested Written by respected industry expert Irene Aldridge While interest in high-frequency trading continues to grow, little has been published to help investors understand and implement this approach—until now. This book has everything you need to gain a firm grip on how high-frequency trading works and what it takes to apply it to your everyday trading endeavors.

Never have financial markets been subjected to a period of change as rapid and extensive as took place from the 1970s onwards. Ranald C. Michie provides an authoritative account of this upheaval based on a careful reading of the Financial Times over the last four decades.

This comprehensive examination of high frequency trading looks beyond mathematical models, which are the subject of most HFT books, to the mechanics of the marketplace. In 25 chapters, researchers probe the intricate nature of high frequency market dynamics, market structure, back-office processes, and regulation. They look deeply into computing infrastructure, describing data sources, formats, and required processing rates as well as software architecture and current technologies. They also create contexts, explaining the historical rise of automated trading systems, corresponding technological advances in hardware and software, and the evolution of the trading landscape. Developed for students and professionals who want more than discussions on the econometrics of the modelling process, The Handbook of High Frequency Trading explains the entirety of this controversial trading strategy. - Answers all questions about high frequency trading without being limited to mathematical modelling - Illuminates market dynamics, processes, and regulations - Explains how high frequency trading evolved and predicts its future developments