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The Flash Trading Org Chart

Tyler Durden's picture




Zero Hedge will attempt to categorize all the relevant players in FlashTradingGate. This is the initial focus of Senator Charles Schumer's recent campaign for market equality and transparency. As we will undoubtedly miss critical connections between these and other pertinent industry players, we solicit readers' insight as we develop this org chart: we invite readers to send emails to: flashtrading@zerohedge.com with any input.

For a sense of services provided by Direct Edge, Here is the Direct Edge fee schedule.

And here is the July 2007 commentary by Goldman Sachs and Citadel when the two firms purchased a 19.9% stake each in Direct Edge.

"Direct Edge has quickly become a major market center for U.S. equities
by virtue of its innovative market model and competitive pricing
schedule" said Greg Tusar, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs.

"Goldman Sachs is a fantastic addition to the Direct Edge partnership,"
said Mathew Andresen, Co-Head of Citadel Derivatives Group. "Volumes
have grown significantly in recent weeks and we expect that trend to
continue as Direct Edge becomes a more important liquidity destination
for the marketplace."

For some other, more recent and relevant perspectives by Goldman's Greg Tusar, who has been abnormally vocal about another aspect of HFT, pre-trade monitoring, read here.




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Sat, 07/25/2009 - 17:59 | Link to Comment akreitman
akreitman's picture

    What's the deal with the add/remove liquidity rebates.  When I look at the rebates published on the IB and Lightspeed price charts, they show exchange charge when you add liquidity and a rebate when you remove liquidity.  The direct edge price seems to charge for removing liquidity and a rebate for adding liquidity.  What am I missing?

Sat, 07/25/2009 - 20:47 | Link to Comment KidDynamite
KidDynamite's picture

this (DirectEdge) is standard. pay to take liquidity, get paid (rebate) to provide liquidity

Sat, 07/25/2009 - 18:05 | Link to Comment nicholsong
nicholsong's picture

Any thoughts on working with/like WikiLeaks?

Sat, 07/25/2009 - 18:22 | Link to Comment Marla Singer
Marla Singer's picture

I'm sure they are great folks.

That said, we have no idea who they really are or where their funding comes from.  We'd rather be masters/mistresses of our own destiny.

We don't actually need them either.  We've got our own infrastructure in place.

:)

Sat, 07/25/2009 - 18:40 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sat, 07/25/2009 - 19:13 | Link to Comment nicholsong
nicholsong's picture

I don't think Marla meant that as criticism; just factually.  I agree with her. I don't know who they are either, nor where their funds come from. They take donations (who doesn't) but that doesn't tell much.  For my part, I didn't mean for ZH to hitch their mules to WikiLeak's wagon. I'm just thinking about a constellation of truthiness.

Sat, 07/25/2009 - 21:11 | Link to Comment GeoffreyT
GeoffreyT's picture

Hey there nicholsong,

 

WikiLeaks will be suborned eventually - jsut as Google has been. Once they develop enough penetrtion to be worth bribing, they will get bought.

 

There's nothing wrong with that - and as they become more and more kosher, the market will provide alternatives.

 

(Wikileaks is really only for proto-whistleblowers... real ones use freenet: much much much smaller audience, but the entire audience is highly motivated. Plus, you can shop there for any assassination-fulfilment needs you might have [kidding!])

 

In unrelated news, I decided to weigh in on the whole HFT debate...it is like diligently trying to remove a stray tea-leaf from a cup of tea, when the teapot has a gigantic turd in it.

Cheerio

 

 

GT

GT's Market Rant

Sat, 07/25/2009 - 18:05 | Link to Comment deadhead
deadhead's picture

As a New York State resident, I'd like to thank Senator Schumer for taking up this matter.  I would urge the Senator to contact Mr. Durden for any assistance and background information that will be helpful.

 

Thank you.

Sat, 07/25/2009 - 18:38 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sat, 07/25/2009 - 19:14 | Link to Comment nicholsong
nicholsong's picture

The recipient of who's rhetoric critique, Anonymous?  :)

Sat, 07/25/2009 - 19:26 | Link to Comment deadhead
deadhead's picture

I appreciate you saying that. My regrets as well for misreading the thread responses.

 

Best of luck to you.

Sat, 07/25/2009 - 18:07 | Link to Comment JohnKing
JohnKing's picture

ring-a-ling..

Immelt: hello

Rahm: this doesn't get out there, CNBC runs infomercials next week

Immelt: infomercials?

Rahm: Fuck you. And tell Blankfein to pick up his fucking phone before I have to send ACORN to his house

Immelt: ok

Rahm: Fuck you

 

 

 

 

Sat, 07/25/2009 - 18:30 | Link to Comment MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

They are all one big company posing as individual companies.

{Insert image of head blowing off shoulders here}

Sat, 07/25/2009 - 18:36 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sat, 07/25/2009 - 18:38 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sat, 07/25/2009 - 18:39 | Link to Comment Tyler Durden
Tyler Durden's picture

I appreciate your consistent stylistic advice. The post focuses on any and all relevant Flash trading relationships, of which the SLP falls under.

Sat, 07/25/2009 - 20:46 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Mon, 08/10/2009 - 15:12 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sat, 07/25/2009 - 18:37 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sat, 07/25/2009 - 18:37 | Link to Comment joann
joann's picture

How will Citadel's bankruptcy fit into all of this, will GS just buy it out?

Sat, 07/25/2009 - 19:42 | Link to Comment lizzy36
lizzy36's picture

Never count Ken Griffen out.  Looks like they are expanding their HFT skills by taking a majority stake in Equiduct. 

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/07/24/63651/high-frequency-trading-in-europe/

Sat, 07/25/2009 - 20:01 | Link to Comment Howard_Beale
Howard_Beale's picture

Citadel is not in bankruptcy. They are weaseling into the European markets now in the electronic trading arena.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aayJKbKSm3ZY

Well that was redundant...lizzy posted while I was yelling out the window!

Sat, 07/25/2009 - 23:26 | Link to Comment joann
joann's picture

Thanks for the links Lizzy and Howard.

Mon, 07/27/2009 - 16:48 | Link to Comment joann
joann's picture


.

Sat, 07/25/2009 - 18:43 | Link to Comment whacked
whacked's picture

Hmm Blackrock ... another 800lb gorilla being backed by the US Government..

Sat, 07/25/2009 - 19:18 | Link to Comment Comrade de Chaos
Comrade de Chaos's picture

'em good old boys network, neat charts. I guess everyone wants their own Cylone.

A Robot should never bring any harm to a human. P.S. I wonder, what if those boys created the pandora box instead of the skynet. Then they should be aware that whoever runs first, loses the least.

 

 

 

 

 

Sat, 07/25/2009 - 19:40 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sat, 07/25/2009 - 19:44 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sat, 07/25/2009 - 19:47 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sat, 07/25/2009 - 19:50 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sat, 07/25/2009 - 19:51 | Link to Comment spekulatn
spekulatn's picture

2x

 

"MARK IT ZERO, DUDE"

Sat, 07/25/2009 - 19:53 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sat, 07/25/2009 - 19:52 | Link to Comment nicholsong
nicholsong's picture

Uh, he's no traitor, and YES we need that type of citizen--or at least that type of freedom. If you don't have the liberty to move your funds where you want, you are slave to governmental mandates anyway.  The greatest vote of all is the vote with your feet, and if you disallow that, every sort of abuse and predation is possible.

Sat, 07/25/2009 - 20:14 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sun, 07/26/2009 - 02:08 | Link to Comment agrotera
agrotera's picture

common, here anony.  He isn't a traitor, he is just afraid for his family because of the corruption that has become pervasive here in the US. 

Anyone how leaves fine. but the rest of us are left with the task of saving our country from this corruption.  Yes, officially, we live in a banana republic.  But, we can vote out the current corrupted bought elected officials and insist on a new way of governance, and that is a great thing we can look forward to...

Sun, 07/26/2009 - 00:08 | Link to Comment Ben_the_Bald
Ben_the_Bald's picture

Please follow your hero.

 

Singapore is totally corrupt.

Sun, 07/26/2009 - 21:12 | Link to Comment Ruth
Ruth's picture

I think the US is ranked below Italy now on the CPI, in '04 ranking 53/104 surveyed.  We need to start prosecuting and cleaning house.

Sat, 07/25/2009 - 20:05 | Link to Comment RobotTrader
RobotTrader's picture
I guess we are going to have to watch the most heavily traded lotto tickets trade on a 1-minute chart for entertainment purposes, to see how well the "Channelingstocks.com" Program Robots buy and sell these issues thousands of times a day.

http://clearstation.etrade.com/cgi-bin/bbs?post...

Wondering how the robots handle a scenario where they suddenly burst out of the channel and start going off in a different direction?

Primary examples would be the XLF, RKH, and KRE. They have been "pinned" in a small trading range for months.

Which way will they break?

And if so, how will the robots trade these once they break off in a different direction?

http://clearstation.etrade.com/cgi-bin/bbs?post...  

Sat, 07/25/2009 - 20:09 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sat, 07/25/2009 - 20:12 | Link to Comment Tyler Durden
Tyler Durden's picture

go here, and look up HFT, program trading, market liquidity event, flash, and goldman sachs.

Sat, 07/25/2009 - 21:51 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sun, 07/26/2009 - 08:24 | Link to Comment labster
labster's picture

As for graphics, ZH might draw on the artwork of the late Mark Lombardi, who attempted to diagram such conspiracies as BCCI using hand-drawn "narrative structures," but update his index-card backend with wiki-like functionality and a dynamic visualization a la Visual Thesaurus. All this would be less something to give to CNBC and more of a collaborative tool to map the Flash Trading tentacles in real-time.

Sat, 07/25/2009 - 21:05 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sat, 07/25/2009 - 23:55 | Link to Comment Tyler Durden
Tyler Durden's picture

rentec is following the flash debate closely. very very closely... and we (and a few others) are following their reponses even closer.

Sun, 07/26/2009 - 00:44 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sat, 07/25/2009 - 21:10 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sat, 07/25/2009 - 21:38 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sat, 07/25/2009 - 22:28 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sun, 07/26/2009 - 01:50 | Link to Comment Comrade de Chaos
Comrade de Chaos's picture

Well, looking up the world corruption statistics based on survey of businesses could be a good starting point to solve this argument. It might be true that there are number of EU countries that would score higher than the USA.  However you ve got to remember the size, homogeneity and the degree of conformism do skew the data. Even without those adjustments we still are ahead of curve. I am not saying we should be idle, however we shouldn't jump to conclusions or lose the respect to constitution. We should fight for our rights, because rights and freedoms are well worth sweating over. Running and wishing problems away does not solve anything anywhere in the world. And we are blessed because we have opportunities to defend our rights, in many other parts of the world this is not the case, period. 

And YEAH, if you ask an average CHinese in China if they have corruption the answer will be obvious, what corruption. 

Sun, 07/26/2009 - 08:29 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sun, 07/26/2009 - 20:54 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sat, 07/25/2009 - 21:23 | Link to Comment GeoffreyT
GeoffreyT's picture

Folks, HFT andflash orders are only going to affect ticker-watchers (I am one of them, so it's not a pejorative), and only 'breakout' style traders at that.

 

It's focusing on the wrong thing, in my view... as I said elsewhere, it's like diligently trying to remove a stray tea-leaf from a cup of tea, when there is a gigantic turd in the teapot.

 

Tyler's doing excellent stuff on the GS/corruption front, and this HFT stuff is great for profile-building... but it's not the 'big ticket' ripoff that it's being painted as.

 

Cheers

 

 

 

GT

GT's Market Rant

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 15:30 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sat, 07/25/2009 - 21:32 | Link to Comment deadhead
deadhead's picture

so, TD, did you and Cheney catch some fish today?

Sun, 07/26/2009 - 02:10 | Link to Comment agrotera
agrotera's picture

Deadhead, what is that supposed to mean? I am totally not with your insinuation.

Sun, 07/26/2009 - 19:45 | Link to Comment deadhead
deadhead's picture

arg....it goes to the matter of the trolls that are beginning to infest some of the commentary.  on some thread recently someone was hinting that they knew where the offshore servers are; i viewed that as some troll threatening zh (certainly i could be wrong).  anyways, my not so funny response related to the old cheney undisclosed location thingee....naturally, that would have to be wyoming and cheney's penchant for fly fishing.  actually, it is pretty much me being dumb and not terribly hunorous.  nothing more than that.

Sun, 07/26/2009 - 23:00 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Mon, 07/27/2009 - 02:32 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sat, 07/25/2009 - 21:48 | Link to Comment Lothar the Rott...
Lothar the Rottweiler's picture

Geoffrey T - thanks for the links but no dice.

Do your PR work somewhere else; this isn't the place.

Thanks.

Sat, 07/25/2009 - 22:32 | Link to Comment GeoffreyT
GeoffreyT's picture

[Edited by GT 12:31 p.m. Oz time: reason - it needed toning down. I need t ostop drinking before noon]

Hey there Lothar,

I could have linked to several other places that had stories that took the non-'Chicken Little' side of HFT, but none of them had the two examples I wanted.

If you think that's 'PR', then we differ on what the term means (Ihave no stake in freenet, for example, except as a participant).

 

The Stalinesque habit of arrogating to oneself the right to determine who may and may not post such-and-so a type of content, invites a polite "Not Your Call" unless

  1. you're part of the ZH team; or
  2. you've donated more to ZH than I have (crude and capitalist, but there you go).

On (2): whatever amount you've donated (assuming its > 0), if I haven't already, I'll match it and add a dollar just to buy the rights.

Let the bidding commence.

If you think a post is 'Junk' you an flag it and the team will dispose o it if it's found to be so.

Cheerio

 

 

GT

GT's Market Rant

 

Sat, 07/25/2009 - 23:03 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sun, 07/26/2009 - 00:59 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sun, 07/26/2009 - 01:16 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sun, 07/26/2009 - 01:32 | Link to Comment dark pools of soros
dark pools of soros's picture

stop talkin out of your asses - this is totally the type of comment jackin that bores people away from good discourse.  If you respect the intelligence of the audience, you need not deal with a stray heckle - they understand how to ignore the noise

fucking vain drama queens

Sun, 07/26/2009 - 01:39 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sat, 07/25/2009 - 23:34 | Link to Comment Lothar the Rott...
Lothar the Rottweiler's picture

Geoffrey, sir, it is not junk to link out to other sites to reinforce your arguments.

That is the essence of this place, I have gathered.

Linking to your own site at the end of every comment you make (and I've seen you do it on others, not just this one) is, simply, bad form.

My opinion of course, but I've seen it done enough in other places and had it called out also.

My donations, miniscule as they have all been, to ZH have been on nights where Marla has been spinning, and I have been clear that I believe others listening on nights she spins should donate the equivalent of what it would cost them to get into a club and hear a DJ spin live.

That it happens what I've donated is more than I've paid for any subscription to other finance sites or publications is merely a bonus for all the value provided here.  I say that sincerely, in case you wonder.

That's all, and no more.  Fair enough to link your site in your profile name, but it's not a good thing to spray it at the end of every comment.

Sat, 07/25/2009 - 23:57 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sun, 07/26/2009 - 03:01 | Link to Comment GeoffreyT
GeoffreyT's picture

Hi again Lothar,

Odd that you think that a link constitutes 'spraying'.

It is perfectly normal - and not a breach of any netiquette that I have ever encountered - to put a bloglink in a 'sig' (leave aside that something as 'correct line' as netiquette is downright funny on a quasi-anarchist site).

I thought you were objecting to something else entirely. Never, anywhere on the web (since 1994 - before Netscape was even called Netscape), have I ever seen anybody object to such a thing.

Sadly there seemed to be no facility for including a link in one's ZH profile - otherwise I would certainly have done so in preference to sticky-taping it to the bottom of comments. When ZH on blogspot had Disqus, I think that the bloglink was part of the userID (as it is with IntenseDebate, and other OpenID style gizmos), but to my knowledge it can't be done here.

If it could be done, it's not clear how displaying it as part of the userID is different from having a link at the bottom of the sig.

 

All that said, I am glad that you've contributed to ZH: from top to bottom it is a laudable enterprise, even if it's over-egged the pudding on the who HFT thing.

ZH has certainly jumped the shark now, so I am prepared to bet that GE will pay someone to find out the IDs of TD and his crew within two weeks: thereafter ZH will probably need contributions to help fend off spurious legal bullshit... and there will be a flurry of defamatory crap in the comment sections too.

I've lived that shit; it's not fun. Folks will believe the most outlandish shit imaginable, and the bad guys have employees who do that shit for a living.

The 'sir' stuff is unnecessary - in my experience people who use it are usually being insincere.

Cheerio

 

 

GT

Yes, I'm Nasty To Zionists... Too Bad

Sat, 07/25/2009 - 22:05 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sun, 07/26/2009 - 00:04 | Link to Comment Ben_the_Bald
Ben_the_Bald's picture

This is what I've learned so far:

 

  1. All bats are animals.
  2. Some wooden objects are bats.
  3. Therefore, some wooden objects are animals.
Sun, 07/26/2009 - 08:13 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sun, 07/26/2009 - 19:01 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 07/28/2009 - 02:36 | Link to Comment Ruth
Ruth's picture

ZH Team, the links in this excellent post may help with your chart.

http://forums.wallstreetexaminer.com/index.php?showtopic=828562

Thu, 08/06/2009 - 08:04 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!