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Jon Stewart On HFT: "It's Not American; It's Not Even Capitalism. It's Cheating"
Jon Stewart is stunned by the world of HFT (where "stock exchanges sell the right to advance information to high frequency traders [by locating their computers closest to the exchange]") and the mainstream media's immediate jump to defend it "as good for us", but as Michael Lewis explains "anyone whose livelihood is dependent on Wall Street [from CNBC, FOX and even the SEC] is invested in this... it sounds like a conspiracy."
In this excellent interview, The Daily Show doubter asks "we have set a standard for share buying (you can't but 1/100th of a share) so why not set a standard for frequency of trading?" Lewis stoic response sums up our world perfectly, "in a sane world, we would... but the money is too big," and adds that indeed that is what IEX is doing. The HFTs "function on volume and volatility" alone and "they know the prices before you do... which is illegal if it's a person, but as a computer, meh?"
Michael Lewis and Jon Stewart Part 1: What is HFT? "HFT is a middle-man in a transaction they have no business being in.. it is totally unnecessary Wall Street intermediation" How does it work? "The stock exchanges in this country sell the right to advance information to high frequency traders [by locating their computers closest to the exchange]" What is front-running? "front-running as a person is illegal, but as a computer, meh"
Michael Lewis and Jon Stewart Part 2: Conspiracies - "It's Not American; It's Not Even Capitalism. It's Cheating", Trading Frequency standards, and independent exchanges
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Hey Jon remember to apply ("It's Not American; It's Not Even Capitalism. It's Cheating")
this to obummer care the next time you promote it on your comedy show. Jack off!
They did have nice things to say about Canadians. The only thing to do is to cash out and wait until we have a fair market as so many hedge fund managers have done. Todays markets are planned and managed by banksters and politicians.
msnbc (morning joke) guest spilled the beans.....
the story is getting promoted because the democrat party strategy is to "Bain Capital" any republican candidate.
jon lipshitz isnt "stunned".....this isnt "news".....and it's not about HFT.....
take-home message:
Dudley Do-right has taken on the bad guys on behalf of mom and pop
he is a hero
all is safe now
good thing we have heros
heros like Dudley Do-right
Bill Dudley Do Right...for banksters only
It makes me wonder what is really going on behind the scenes. In an election year, all of a sudden there's a move afoot to take away one of the profit machines of Wall St., which finances the incumbents. Why the concern for muppets like me?
Bingo. Look at all the headlines in the last 48 hours. HFT is bad is everywhere. Russia is in a fight with JPM over blocked payment transfers, that JPM is pre-emptively saying is related to US sanctions against Russia, even though this isn't part of the sanctions. Anyone wonder what Russia has on the West Financial System... maybe via Snowden... that is being threatened to be outed? Something has TPTB really worried.
I have known about HFT since 1999. I discussed the technology with a company that was setting up a direct connection with CBOT at that time.
This is old news to some people, but it's only been getting out to the public very recently. The amount of money siphoned off the trading is staggering and have been going on a long time. The gov't didn't want to intervene, because it makes the market look active, when in truth it's been in a real decline from real trading, and volumes are made up with predatory trading. It's gets ugly when the HTF automated trading is working against other HTF's. Then there's the bad strategies that are implemented which amplifies a coding logic bug/hole.
Dark_Horse
Its only been brought to the public now because HFT market has been overdone and saturated...its not as easy to skim the sheeps anymore with so much competition.
I am sure there is some new technology out there right now that some firms are using that is skimming the sheeps as we speak and we wont know about it till a decade later when its at the end of its life. This cycle keeps repeating itself...aka sheeps gets slaughtered in perpetuity.
With the index fund dominance of individual portfolios and the buy and hold inability of institutional investors to go to cash, it is inevitable that trading volumes will decline. But then given the volume and number of HFT firms, at some point with declining investment volume it is inevitable that the HFT cannibals will begin eating each other, and that is why the squid has abandoned the waters infested solely with other HFT sharks.
don't forget HFT is mechanism that bernank used to levitate stawks. Enabled them to make market what they say it is. Got to get sheep back into 401K no matter what.
Must.. keep.. ponzi.. going..
It's all Bullshit!!! Been saying that for a long time. Michael Lewis just wrote a book about it.
Thank god ZH requires anonymity to comment. Otherwise everyone would be attacked for an idea that others disagree with that's totally unrelated to the topic at hand.
Stewart has his faults but take the media victories where you can get them. This is one and making Cramer look like the douche nozzle that he is will always make Stewart a hero to me.
Stewart is a blood sucking fucktard doing it for ratings so his gravy train is not derailed.
So we all (ZHers) know and say that HFT is cheating. Jon Stewart says it's cheating, and he's vilified for it. WTF is wrong with you morons. I think that most of you are assholes, but I don't vilify you when you make a statement that I agree with, because it MAKES NO SENSE TO DO SO.
Cuz he's a Jew.
meh. I think Stewart is just another statist, that's why I villify him. Well, that and his arrogant smugness. I'm ok with the asshole handle just so long as that means we don't have to share a teepee.
Hear hear. It's the same give and no-take white noise that has crushed all political debate.
You cannot honestly expect the opposition to give consideration to any of your issues unless you do the same.
John L Stewart is being vilified for his selective outrage...he is throwing a populist wingding over "wall street is rigged".... the government, whom Stewart loves, is stealing not pennies per trade but thousands upon thousands with the threat of force and imprisonment!...THAT is what is offensive...fuck you Stewart.
Totuga, here's something you might not know.
Everyone who works on TV does it for the ratings, otherwise they won't be there. TV is the only way to reach the masses by the way.
bullshit.
do you remember the case of the "young turks"? ratings were strong and on their way up...he was promised career advancement but also told to cool it and tow the line. he refused.
build a better mouse trap my ass. i learned this when my supermarket had invented a better potato chip. freaking delicious and less than half the cost. as soon as its popularity was obvious,it was 'dissapeared'. the store would make more by charging the big players for shelf space. so much for "free markets".
Gentlemen, we've finally found a commander for the People's Revolutionary Army - Potato Chip Battalion.
Sir, you are an asshole! It takes one to know one ;)
.
Like he needs any help.
Obama is your hero , probably Fidel and Che also...
He is still a leftist douche bag with an agenda that runs contrary to most people on here's ideals. He says shit like this now because it suits them, and because its out in the open now, nothing they can do about it. Now they can blame the next market crash on this instead of the federal reserve and govt. that's all this is. Also, I am a big Peter schiff and Andrew Napolitono fan, and the way Stewart twisted their message and didn't give them a fair hearing was disgusting. Watch those if you want to see how this guy thinks. He is a statist authoritarian that deserves no praise from ZHers.
I'm surprised a libtard like Stewart even stated that this isn't capitalism. Usually these fools like Stewart blame all the ills of society on capitalism in order to push their socialist/facist agenda. Meanwhile, I haven't smelled a whiff of free market capitalism in my lifetime and neither has he.
Sr Senator Dick Durbin said on the floor of the Senate yesterday that socialist obamacare is great because "it's better than the free market"
these are some whacky leftists in power these days.....
Michael Lewis explains "anyone whose livelihood is dependent on Wall Street [from CNBC, FOX and even the SEC] is invested in this... it sounds like a conspiracy."
No, it's blatant, in your face CRIMINAL you asshole.
There are no free markets.
In health care the big cos have essentially bought the legislators so that laws are written for their benefit, not the benefit of consumers.
How many times have we heard people state here and other financial boards something along the lines that the market seems to move solely against them and not to worry, the price will move up because they had just sold their entire position. I know I've experienced it as if it had a 6th sense or was personally stalking me. Well, it seems we were ALL correct. Kudos again ZH and TD.
onewayticket2,
Why in the world do you think "free market" healthcare is best? Do you think it's best for everybody?
Why do you socialist ticks and leeches feel you should be rewarded for failure and productive folks should be penalized for success?
I know yopu are too cowardly to answer honestly....
"Why do you socialist ticks and leeches feel you should be rewarded for failure and productive folks should be penalized for success?"
Failure implies that these people tried to be successful at some point. Don't give them that much credit. As if the mere fact that they breathe and consume entitles them to the benefits, luxuries, and labor of hard working individuals. Give me a break. These people are thieves and want nothing more than a free ride.
HOW ABOUT A REBUTTAL FROM THE SOCIALIST/STATIST WHO DOWN-VOTED???
I dunno...What industry hasn't the USA bailed out or subsidized in the last 30 years you snarky little shit.
No buisiness or industry should ever be bailed out by the taxpayer. They should be left to fail. A gangrene leg isn't left to kill the rest of the body? Is it?
Here in Canada, most people don't mind paying for universal healthcare, and would hardly regard it as rewarding failure. Quite contrary, most view it as a basic right afforded to all, as we understand that some will always have it better than others.
This meme that productive folks are penalized (and failure being rewarded) is slightly misguided, IMO.
Disdain for your neighbour seems to be a very American thing, and it's quite alarming (being a neighbour and all).
1) "Most people" means that a minority is being victimized.
2) If I produce more and earn a greater income, I am taxed more. The brain of a socialist must turn itself inside out to make statements like yours.
3) I love my neighbors and I VOLUNTARILY engage in trade with those of the community. I have disdain for those who STEAL from me or FORCE me to engage in trade.
You must learn that it is NEVER ok to steal or use force/violence/coercion against another person. No matter the cause, it is wrong. Don't try to act high and mighty because you voted to steal the wealth and labor of another. Shame on you.
You, sir, are hilarious.
You make these statements assuming everyone comes from a level playing field, which you know damn well is very far from the truth.
You are also confusing universal health care in general with marginal tax brackets (a strawman argument at best), which leads me to belive that your point of view is also confused.
A minimum wage janitor (a "hard" worker if I've ever seen one) should not have to forgo their life because they cannot afford proper surgery, just as rich people (who ALWAYS come across their wealth through hard work and greater production, right?) should not get preferential treatment simply because they can afford it.
A healthy workforce is a productive workforce is a prosperous workforce.
Sure, maybe YOUR proposed system is flawed, but that doesn't mean it should be written off wholesale.
Your rational is FULL of holes.
1) In a free market capitalist system, everyone is on a level playing field. Government, which you so love, choosing winners and losers does not make a level paying field and causes inequality.
2) Doctors provide a service. They can charge whatever they like for that service. Healthcare doesn't permeate throughout the atmosphere like oxygen. Your janitor is not entitled to free healthcare. Healthcare is not a right. EVERYONE has access to healthcare, but it is true that not everyone can afford it. Stealing from others to pay for your healthcare is STILL wrong.
3) A rich person is rich (ideally) because he PROVIDED goods and services to his fellow man. Why should this man be penalized? Rich people who are rich by other means (e..g HFT) are able to do so BECAUSE of government not due to the lack of it.
4) Let's give a janitor a $100,000 surgery so he can go back to sweeping floors. Sounds productive to me. Go be charitable with your own money.
You have to realize, government is actually the cause of many problems and not the answer. What has government EVER achieved without force/theft/coercion? Your system will come crashing down. Eventually you will run out of other people's money. Guaranteed.
Speaking of hilarious things, it is funny that you never addressed the fact that stealing from one and giving to another is morally wrong. Or do you not think so? I would love an explanation from someone who thinks it is OK to steal and coerce and authorize violence and force against those who do not agree with you.
Where does this kneejerk reaction of wanting to create a "level playing field" come from? Must be pretty cushy knowing your scary southern neighbor provides such a large buffer zone leaving you free to forgoe defense and play pattycake with each other. News flash: life ain't fair. Not everybody makes first team. Some people are born into wealth and some people are born into Canada, yes? Nobody gets to pick the hand they are dealt, they just play it. But if I catch you trying to pass cards under the table, we got problems.
Only in the mind of a socialist is taking from those who produce and giving to those who don't is "fair". Man, the mental gymnastics these people do. They still never address the fact that theft and force is morally wrong.
To be charitable is an admirable quality in an individual and a natural result of a successful community free to choose such. Legislating charity however, is in itself, a violent act. How do they square that? Those tender hearted people are just too niave to realize their good intentions are being played by TPTB.
Wise words. But remember, that the baker need not do any act of charity in order to benefit his community. They are already full on bread thanks to him.
Nice little pictorial:
http://coloradoright.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/socialism-vs-capitalism...
Health care is not a government right.
Never has been - never will be.
It might be a moral obligation to help, but it's not for the government to get involved.
Capitalism. "That's a name I've not heard in a long time. A long time."
Why is HFT cheating? After J Ass-smile Corzine I thought everything is legal in the USA.
cheating, what a nice way to say it.
This whole episode is a weapon of mass distraction.
People have not a clue of how deep this goes....
That's because most people don't......... Ooo! Look over there! A shiny thing!
Perhaps it's a combination of Cognative Dissonance & willful ignorance.
'Cheating' is so harsh, lets just call it an HFT affair
No shit. Let's add in the idea of the Fed's discount window for the "capital" being used to recycle fraudulent bonds and the skimmed profits used to goose the market up. Let's add in the quote stuffing generated by these HFT algos. Let's add in how bonds are created by the Fed based on the farts these kleptos generate. Let's add in reverse repos that create balance sheets that look solvent. Let's add in mark to unicorn asset valuations. The plebes would turn a deaf ear, blind eye, and turn on the baseball game. Five years to get just the little tid bit of HFT into the spotlight, yet the rabbit hole is soooooo much deeper.
That would (I assume) include, you, me, and every other person on this site. Right? Or have we all become know-it-alls, that like the state, know whats best for other people?
It includes me.
I'm stuped.
I believed people couldn't be that dishonest, that the regulators wouldn't let it happen, that the lamestream media would be on top of any fraud or rigging and expose it.
I headed for the hill about 5 years ago because the "tells" of good news/bad news/momentum/earnings etc.... became totally out of wack with the direction of any equity. Buy and hold became buy and git bent over.
That would depend on what your definition of is, is.
It fits so well into the NY Fed's objectives of perpetuating stock market gains that it is certainly no coincidence that it became the norm and the media embraced it.
Algos, HFT and economic data that always "beats" by a tiny margin and gets revised lower. It starts at the very top.
Brad Katsuyama stated "The market is rigged". The talking heads looked stunned.
I skoff at their "stunned".
It's stupedism at it's finest.
Welcome to the new normal. We've been already here for at least five years ....
@Bearwagon
Exactly. Five years in this hollowed-out factory with a broken clock. To say that the "media" is a little "tardy to the party" is a grand understatment....
This information is being put out for A REASON.
Screw the book, Stewart and the blathering idiots at CNBC. The people who thought they were in charge and could get away with this forever have been exposed. But by whom? Perhaps by people even higher up on the food chain that need sacrifices on the floors below them such that when the shit collapses there will be retribution. It just won't go to the top.
Thinking the same. They want the sheeple to lose confidence in EVERYTHING so that they can institute more GOV takeover of EVERYTHING...
"Due to recent revelations that there was cheating and manipulation in the markets by greedy capitalists on Wall Street, we have had another major decline in the stock markets, caused by these so-called HFTs, that NO ONE, not even the brilliant economists at the fed,could have possibly seen coming, I have issued a new executive order that mandates that all IRAs and 401ks shall have a minimum of 20% of their total value invested in the safety and security of US government treasury bills. This will protect ordinary, hard working middle class Americans from the predations of greedy capitalists on Wall Street. "
State of the union address, 2015....
As if Jon Stewart would knows or promotes Capitalism.
Now that news the market is rigged is trickling in to the low information sheeple media, how long before sheeple stampede out of the market? The big players got out a while ago.
Will this cause a market crash? Stay tuned.
The Feds come in everyday and un-crash the market, what will cause this to stop? Everybody knows whats going on, its so blatent it is ridiculous.
No they will just pump more monopoly money into it to keep it inflated - rising as I type - despite telling the sheeple it is rigged - proof - it is rigged
"Will this cause a market crash? Stay tuned."
Timing is everything. Seems to be a prevalent player in this HFT scandal. A better question is, could the exposure of yet moar corruption and criminality all be part of the greater plan to destabilize and kill the country before or after another govt sponsored False Flag Event to actually cause the triggering of a crash? Is it all timed out to go down like this? Hummmm....you betcha!
Stay tuned for the next distraction, but keep a third eye on these kinds of events that are leading up to the devaluation, total loss of confidence, and inevitable crash. Will it be slow, or fast? Only time tells all things. Where this a distraction, there is always a cause.
http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2014/04/02/appeal-obama-release-spy-traito...
Stewart knows it. He and his ilk suck the lifeblood from the system all the while pretending they really don't need it, it's a blood sucker because the ISMs work great.
ISMs: Communism, Facsism, Socialism, Stupedism.
Jon Stewart a DUAL-PASSPORT holder has a TEL-AVIV
condo bought and paid for into perpetuity and you
don't.
Enough Said.
The man makes between $25-$30 million a year..i'd hope he could afford a "condo" in Tel Aviv...
I would hope a lawful return to the one nation of Palestine. Then it would be up to the land owners if any such condo should exist or not, instead of squatters who pretend the land was "given" to them by the magical skyfairy.
Enough said, indeed. Now will all of you tribalist cockroaches please scuttle back into the shadows, and STFU already?
Lewis reminds me of the guy on Castle....the journalist.
this jon stewart fella is he
scotch
scottish rite
oirish
irish
or just another hidden in plain shite jew
STUNNED IS HE
amazed at this is he
fuckin rapist cunt.
no diss intended
this message has not been approved by the irish blarney blah blah defamation league
He is a proud member of clan MacLiebowitz.
Jon Stewart is calling for IEX to be the ambassador
of all human-human biz for all time in the future,
HOPE & CHANGE are here now IEX is the future,
You had HOPE, now you have CHANGE,
*
Pretty sad when TEAM-ZIO has to send out a MSM Clown
to edoocate dee USA publik.
Did both your "satoshi" accounts get banned now? Give it a rest.
STFU carl.
ha! Man of the people calling out the crooks? Bullshit.
http://nypost.com/2013/11/26/jon-stewarts-brother-leaving-nyse/
Why Clifford S. Asness and Michael Mendelson’s HFT editorial in today's WSJ is full of shit:
How do we feel about high-frequency trading? We think it helps us. It seems to have reduced our costs and may enable us to manage more investment dollars. We can't be 100% sure. Maybe something other than HFT is responsible for the reduction in costs we've seen since HFT has risen to prominence, like maybe even our own efforts to improve. But we devote a lot of effort to understanding our trading costs, and our opinion, derived through quantitative and qualitative analysis, is that on the whole high-frequency traders have lowered costs.
The only metric that matters in terms of trading costs is implementation shortfall: the difference between the share amount/net price level you made your buy/sell decision on and what you ended up with when the order was fully executed or abandoned after a partial execution. Period. Was implementation shortfall larger pre-HFT dominance or is it larger now? The answer may be matter to greater or lesser degrees for different types of market participants but it’s really the crux of this part of the controversy and you don’t address it directly.
Rather than embracing electronic markets, these managers have stuck with their old methods. They think HFT costs them money. Often when they try to trade large orders quickly, they find the trades more difficult to execute in a market that has gravitated toward more frequent trades in smaller sizes, and that the price moves away from them faster now.
Often when they try to trade large orders quickly, they find the trades more difficult to execute in a market that has gravitated toward more frequent trades in smaller sizes, and that the price moves away from them faster now. …Well, sorry, but prices responding quickly—and traders not being able to buy or sell a ton without the market moving—is what is supposed to happen in a well-functioning market. It happens to us too.
Being able to buy or sell in size (in either large or small increments) with minimal price movement is called liquidity. Broad and deep liquidity used to be the pride of American capital markets. Illiquidity is not actually the hallmark of a well-functioning market and critics of HFT aren’t crying foul because they can’t figure out how to break 100,000 share orders into 1000 separate 100 share lots.
These big, traditional investment managers represent a business opportunity to anyone who can offer them new market venues, like IEX, that might conceivably avoid the perceived ill effects of high-frequency trading. We wish them well in that effort, and if they succeed these new exchanges and their clients will benefit. But let's allow the issue to be decided by open competition, not by politics, demagoguery and rules born of crony capitalism.
The purpose of government and law is to set up a robust, equitable and transparent framework for people to go about the business of life and prosper. Great things happen when such an environment fosters the competition of free enterprises. But private competition isn’t supposed to determine the law itself or in this case the particular regulatory structure of capital markets. Successfully lobbying regulators to allow for 3000 different arcane order types and privileged market data dissemination are indicative of crony capitalism. Competition could have reduced commissions and spreads to the point where they are now without the other results we have now. Market structure has been fragmented to the point where it now strains the definition of what a market actually is (a clearinghouse that aggregates all buyers and sellers and facilitates price discovery) while becoming more systemically vulnerable to stress at the same time.
We think it helps us (to become ludicrously wealthy).
Yes, those in control do not want markets
They want to move the "market" or skim it, but certainly not let it be
Slaves cannot be allowed to interact freely
Edward Snowden ...Rob Park...Brad Katsuyama...Ronan Ryan = HEROS!
Free Pollard
Free Netanyahu
Free Cheney
Free Bush
Free Tyler
Free Snowden
Free Katsuyama
Free Rob Park
Free AIPAC
Free Zionism
Free slavery
Free death
Free murder
Free FIAT
Fuck Pollard.
If he reach Israel otherwise than in the body bag, CIA may file for the bakrupcy.
what.
the.
fuck.
Y u no mention FREE JON CORZINE?
A lesson to learn. ZH has been beating this drum for years. I worked for an HFT and knew this game years ago. Only we pay attention as the masses are numb. Then it takes a lightning rod like a Michael Lewis or a Snowden to shake the masses from their slumber. Solve gold manipulation, find that new lightning rod. This is only way to shake things up. Learn PR and Marketing and how to control the masses. Fight the man at his own game. As Putin is showing the way.
Well put Sharkey... concise brevity.
It's as legal as casinos allowing your table neighbor in blackjack to view your cards.
Actually, it's worse. It's allowing the guy on the table next to you to be a part owner in the casino to see your cards, then decide if it's worth folding or drawing and ultimately sharing any winnings he and the dealer will certainly make.
No, it's not criminal. Not at all.
Anything that is defended by CNBC should automatically be inferred to be illegal/rigged.
This pretty much insures Washington will do something. Ironically, Stewart is the establishment as all of the politicians do blow off hookers while watching his show. I think we can all agree that Washington will find a way to make the problem worse, but in the meantime Nasdaq, Ice and the exchange stocks are the short of the decade. Can you imagine what volume would be without the front-running?
"How do we feel about high-frequency trading? We think it helps us."
LMAOROF!
Us.
We think it helps "US" PERIOD
Well, hell yeah..................
HFTs do not provide liquidity. They affect a trade only if they can do both sides simultaneously. An incoming order means nothing to an HFT bot unless a concurrent order at a more advantageous price comes in, in which case they will take the better price and lay it off on to the slightly higher (or lower in the case of sell first, buy second) price. That isn't providing liquidity; that's front-running and scalping.
Let's say someone tries to buy at .38 or better. If, when that buy order is coming to the floor, another order to sell at .37 or better comes in, the HFT will quickly buy the .37 offer, then lay it off on the .38 or better bid. If the HFT had not been there, the .38 or better buyer would have been filled at .37.
How is that "providing a useful service"?
They affect a trade only if they can do both sides simultaneously.
*
You think these soft bots HFT algo's aren't playing
both sides of the trade?
Me thinks that Chindit has just gone full retard.
It's a fiduciary duty of a broker dealer to seek best execution for their clients trades. On this count, it is a slam dunk conviction for all broker dealers and probably worth a pretty penny in billion $ fines (which in the end is a slap in the wrist). Lawyers should be salivating.
"About US" from the sec website (didn't see any porno besides this).
1st two paragraphs.
"The mission of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation.
As more and more first-time investors turn to the markets to help secure their futures, pay for homes, and send children to college, our investor protection mission is more compelling than ever."
LMAOROF!........
Capital Formation ??!! Maybe in David Rockefeller's prime but definitely NOT after September 11th 2001 , and maybe earlier even - like 1995 or so.
"As more and more first-time investors turn to the markets to help secure their futures, pay for homes, and send children to college, our investor protection mission is more compelling than ever."
As more and more first-time investors run from the markets to help secure their futures, pay for homes, and send children to college, our investor protection mission is more compelling than ever and we will do absolutely nothing to stop any of the criminality, or corruption that runs amok in la-la land.
Fixed.
Get the computers out of it and go back to open-outcry trading done amongst human beings.
For that matter, get 'em out from under the roof and make 'em stand outside again dressed like the pimps they are...
Troll? How often do you beat your wife? ?
"front-running as a person is illegal, but as a computer, meh"
This is like someone claiming that the 'timer' exploded the bomb, not me.
They're doing God's work, so 0 made them do it, because "We are who We, have been waiting for".
I watched that O'brien shout fest yesterday on ZH with Brad Katsuyama and the author Lewis being the the quiet voices of reason in the face of the evidently monster drink buttressed O'brien, from BAT.
Did anybody that watched it, besides me, get the impression that this was the first the so-called network experts, were hearing about this?
The tape still should be at the top of this site.
What does Stewart know about HFT and short term trading ? Even if it would be a problem he would never get it right as to why.
So destroy and degrade him because of that? That's seems fucking stupid. Finally one of the issues we here at ZH have railed about goes mainstream, and we start bitching about a guy's real name or that he might be a democrat, or that he is not a trader or Wall Street hack.
You dumbasses pull the same dumbshit when Tiabbi writes a piece destroying Wall Street and their criminal enterprises. He might have said something nice about a democrat ten years ago so he must always be marginalized, even when we agree with him. We then wonder why nothing changes and we always lose.
Fucking stupid!
I doubt I "destroyed" Stewart. And nothing will neither change even if you reach the correct conclusions with the wrong reasoning.
My gripe about the whole HFT "controversy" is that 99% of the noise you hear about it is made by those who have no clue what they are talking about and are ironically defending the people who fail at skimming a short term profit doing nothing but daytrading and are getting their asses handed to them by people who know how to do it (HFT).
There has been no noise on HFT, precisely because of the abstract nature of the topic. Finally, after a book by a well known author and a dust up on CNBC, HFT is making its way to the general public, albeit slowly. I'll take the exposure to the fraud anyway I can get it.
Your beef is just bullshit masked as intellectualism.
Why not look for value instead of assuming "bullshit"?
Accounting101,
And how are you any different?
Your use of "dumbasses, dumbshit, fucking stupid" along with a paintbrush attack of one industry "Wall Street" while apparently ignoring others complicity "Accounting101", indicates a laziness in thinking.
Part of disinformation is using truth to sell a lie. While the truth is still true, it's equally important to look for the lie being sold with it.
"I doubt I "destroyed" Stewart. And nothing will neither change even if you reach the correct conclusions with the wrong reasoning."
Ever notice how gracefully your avatar dances to this song?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h27HRNm_r4U
"This Video only plays in the Untied States" wherever that is...
Any ideas how to unblock? Firefox add-on perhaps?
Vee - Pee - En.
I'm getting a still image which points to Comedy Central UK, but no sign of the Michael Lewis episode yet.
foxy proxy? You'd still need an IP address somehow that says it's American.
Or you could go to a torrent site like extratorrent.cc and find Daily Show episodes and just grab it from there.
It's the 21st century equivalent of 'taller, louder and more attractive' floor traders that got the attention first when it came to call a bid. Why do you think they all have similar uniforms nowadays? To take away the impression that some might be favored over others.
Now maybe the mainstream mdia can go a step further.
QE is not about the economy, they are writing checks to the richest people in the world.
Did the pathetic socialist asshole Obama ball sniffer blame it on Bush, I mean since it happened during the Obowelmovement and all?
Stewart is a nothing but a dumbass script reading douchebag...therefore qualified to run for president in 2016.
Jon Stewart is a govt humping jack-hole. Sometimes he's funny but his schtick is getting old, and his being right on anything only goes to prove the "broken clock is right twice a day" theory.
Otherwise, fuck Stewart's leftist ass with a broomstick, sideways. He's no better than the cunts at FNC whom he berates, but at least FNC has a few hot chicks.
Hey John, Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Bonier, Cantor, and the rest of our gang are not American, Obamacare is not American, printing trillions of fiat dollars is not American, corruption in every nook and cranny of American government is not American, handouts of telephones, free food cards and disability benefits to anyone with a head cold is not American so why are you focuses on what the Banking Cartel the most un-American crowd of liars and criminals do to make money. Did you know that JP Morgan has not has a loss from trading in 1300 days John?? The country is out of control and primarily because you and your liberal friends have destroyed all that was right about America.
No, the country is out of control because of idiots like you going tribal. Pretending there is a damn bit of difference between the two major parties, and feigning disbelief towards our economic circumstance. Putting up straw men everyday and always arguing in circles. Never once being circumspect and wondering why you always end at the same place.
The Oligarchs just laugh and count their (our) money from on high. They muse on how stupid the mere mortals are down below. They are always amazed at just how easy it all is.
HFT is the least of our worries as a country. The thing that makes me laugh about it is that everyone is all up in arms about it. The media picks it up...everyone is up in arms about it. Jesus christ who gives a fuck. HFT or not....if you bought the dips for the last 2 years, you are a fucking multi millionair. Now after everyone is up %30 last year you want to complain that the market is rigged? Yes its rigged because with our economy it should not be up 30%!
HFT is far down on the list of things that shuld be investigated...
Front-running moves a price further than it otherwise would have without the middle-man front-runner. Hence HFT latency arbitrage was instrumental in the ongoing melt-up.
But it's a double-edged sword with the same process in effect on the way down.
Hence, a blind eye must be turned to latency arbitrage on the way up, but suddenly it's the devil on the way down. I don't think any of this is a coincidence so when IEX's way becomes standard then it coincides with the return of the bear market.
The fact that GS, JPM and MS are supporting IEX suggests conspiracy fact, not theory.
M
Jesus H Christ!
Look at the speed of "desperation" they are moving in to get this window dressed???
Is anybody out their intelligent enough to ask how the fuck we are seeing the PR on this going viral in less than 40 hours courtesy of that bastion of journalistic integrity "60 minutes"?
I see pulitzer written all over it for Steve Kroft.
What a winner!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but you only get to chose to front-run or not with the information you have, that is the knowledge of orders your clients place with you.
HFT doesn't magically allow you to know what orders have been placed to other brokers with their clients, right ?
alangreedspank,
My understanding from reading about it is: not exactly, but practically speaking, yes
It's seeing an effect, not the thing itself
I think the crux of the debate is that some people will poll the exchange and get a response faster than others. The ones who get a faster response can buy a bunch of stocks before others see that a big order was placed and is being filled.
I think it becomes a non-issue when you consider that two firms with the same pipe width (say 100gb) could get wildly different response times. One could have a spotless LAN infrastructure that lets the brokers (or the computers acting as brokers) see stuff much faster while the other has defective, badly configured switches with all kinds of features turned on that the guy who installed it has no clue (closed ports, packet size limits, shitty internal routes, etc.)
The front-running you are describing is between in-house private exchanges (dark pools) and public exchanges. That type of front-running will continue unabated and IEX's technique cannot challenge it.
Yes, HFT cannot magically pry into a private exchange to front-run orders that have placed there prior to propagation, but if the bot author pays for access to the exchange then they can front-run as usual, which is the crux of the controversy around Flash Orders.
Things like flash orders impose artificial latency as an order is deliberately held back, to service those who pay for flash orders. Said orders may sit for up to 500milliseconds before propagating, so a bot-author, who has subscribed for flash, can see if a bid is going to propagate (fails to be matched in the dark pool), then run ahead in other exchanges to be ready when it does.
Personally, I'm of the opinion that gray pools should be banned (private exchanges available to the public for a fee). Anyone who routes orders through them is a muppet, which means anyone who uses a popular mums and dads broker online. Truly dark pools are impossible to stop but should at least be threatened by criminalization of front-running (hard, but not impossible to detect with routing speed analysis (the front-run adds latency if induced as in quote stuffing or flash )).
However, this subject is not what the current discussion, (and IEX's method), is all about. The front-running being dealt with by IEX is that which occurs due to variable routing speeds between public exchanges. With 13 public exchanges and all-on-all connectivity, there are 78 core routes to exploit (and the endless variants on these routes). IEX tries to "latency match" these.
HFT front-runs by spending huge money to ensure that their own quotes propagate faster than a muppet quote. Even though a muppet quote may originate first, HFT detects it at the first node of contact, then rapidly propagates in front of it via faster routing to all the other nodes. Muppet is then scalped. They call it "latency arbitrage".
Then there's the issue of quote stuffing (spamming) on the public exchanges. This is a criminal act deliberately designed to create artificial latency along certain routes, (much like a DDOS attack), thereby creating a latency arbitrage (front-running) opportunity where it may not have previously existed.
Nanex has put up some great animations in the past showing an overview of what this all looks like.
Bang on. Scourge du jour.
If there is any justice, his brother is going to be serving a real jail sentence, it might actually wipe the smile off his face for a couple minutes....
Yeah, but what about a mortgage contract where as consideration, you pledge 30 years of sweat and labor to honor the contract while the bank's consideraton consists of keying in digits into your account... HOW's that for cheating and swindling?...
Precisely - legal counterfeiting is a far greater example of cheating, and undermines the whole society, not just financial markets. It's the crime of the ages, from when Jesus through the money changers out of the temple to today's new heights. But Jon's got nothing to say about that does he?
So because Jon (Lewis too) didn't focus on every single example of fraud and abuse perpetrated over the last 40 years of financialization, we should mock and ignore him?
He brought attention to something important. Why isn't that enough?
Defenders of latency arbitrage (aka, front-running) try to reframe the debate as if it's an assault on the entirety of electronic trading, which is total bullshit. Lewis makes the point repeatedly that he's only calling for reform where it's needed, not throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
The "Thor" program (evolved into IEX) simply negates the ability of bots to exploit variable latency between routes by deliberately delaying transmission on the fastest routes (adding latency). An order then ends up propagating through all routes within a time window that is smaller than the physical ability of bots to exploit.
That is all, no more, no less. It rescues the market order, turning it back into something usable instead of a death trap. There is no attack on any other aspect of electronic trading.
Defenders of the scam always bring up the fact of narrower spreads, somehow inferring that this is an attack on narrow spreads. Is it? If narrow spreads only exist because of latency arbitrage then fuck narrow spreads because the cost savings are surely exceeded by the losses to skimming. There's no mention of the possibility that spreads may not change at all as a result of rescuing market orders, or that, hell, spreads might even NARROW as more participants feel more confident to trade.
Anyway, what kind of disaster would happen if it wasn't only bringing latency to one level, but to say 5 minutes? After all these are real world assets (somewhere down there, way way below layers of derivative partitioning). There are very few situations where price-finding mechanism with 5 minute lag would actually perform badly for a company that for example manufactures bricks. There was some event, that by judgement of many actors implies lower value, 5 minutes later (instead of .05 second) these judgments come into play.
A ton of money would be saved on IT infrastructure and the energy to run it, and a bunch of useless jobs would be eliminated, freeing up the clever people involved (such as scientists and engineers) to go back to working on something useful.
Markets would function just fine, price volatility would be reduced, the order book would load up with organic orders again (the true measure of "liquidity") and company valuations would be less distorted.
Win win.
And when Lewis is done he can help GATA and CFTC get around the fraud obstacles that have been plaguing that tired and useless relic since...
Wouldn't anybody love to nail these guys with a 98 mph fast pitch instead of the God Damned softballs that Steve Kroft was throwing last Sunday???!!!!
That statement should read : Its truly American like the 7th cavalry at Little big horn and Wounded knee.
Its totally Capitalism as Marx defined it and its as close to cheating as Heinz ketchup is far away from real tomato sauce.
PS / Talking about "true americanism" read what "hanging chad" Scalia and similarly "tarred and feathered" -- by their previous acts-- judges have concocted for Crony Capitalism to KNOW no bounds when it comes to sweet hand-outs.
After Patriot's Law and "yes we torture"-- to NSA law and "yes we scan anybody, everybody", -- we now have the sequel with : "Yes we scam the people by buying Congress without any restraints!"...
Supreme Court McCutcheon Decision - Business Insider
FREE BERNIE MADOFF. LIKE JOSE CANSECO. HE TRIED WARNING EVERYONE WHAT WAS REALLY HAPPENING.
FUCK YOU BUD SELIG.
Stop the rot!
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/silver-manipulation-anti-trust
Quite a bit of giddiness from 2 boys selling a book full of old news and a new exchange.
Indeed :)
Its not American?!Of course its American! The US was founded on robbing and killing of the natives!! Ripping of its own citizens by taxing and cutting their pensions!!!! Bailing out banks and worthless corporarions!
Shame on you USA!
Well, I have huge sums of cash on the sidelines from my awesome job where my wages blow away the real inflation, I was just waiting for this "all clear" moment to get back in. Now that our regulators have found the corrpution and rooted it all up, I feel it's time for me to get back in there and buy some KING, TSLA and FB. I always suspected there was manipulation and now that it is all gone and things are honest and reputable again, I will jump back in with both hands to BTMFATH!
Thank God we live in the land of the free and the corrput have been caught and now all is well. It feels good, It feels really good. USA! USA!
\s
Jon, did you clear this with Tel Aviv?
While I applause the fact that Zero Hedge was way ahead of the curve when it comes to HFT, and it pisses me off that some other person is getting credit for "uncovering the evils of HFT", I believe that the discussion itself is not about HFT. The discussion should be about why now? What do they have up their sleeves? Why did the MSM .gov propaganda machine allow this book to see the light of day? These are the questions on my mind.
Because the melt-up has run its course and the bear market is about to return. GS, JPM and MS are ahead of the "business cycle" as always and IEX is their useful tool. Front-running buyers is desired on the way up, but front-running sellers is the devil on the way down.
Personally I believe that when this thing vaporizes, front runners will be the least of our worries. This no virtually long only volume market will gap down so fast that nobody will know what hit them.