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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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sarc/ Oh never you mind, the circuit breakers will be tightened in to, say 2%. This market isn't allowed to go down, ever, because it's the nation's piggy bank since the Fed killed the term deposit and the long bond.
you're right doc. repost from below...
Thinking the same. They want the sheeple to lose confidence in EVERYTHING so that they can institute more GOV takeover of EVERYTHING...
Who gives a shi* what Jon Stewart thinks? Idiot
Stewart's family is knee deep in stock trading just in the same way Rahm Emanuel's brother Ezekiel is knee deep in Obamacare and genocide.
Fuck Stewart and the clever criminal comedy deceivers at the daily show.
Why is the country going down the tubes?
It's because of liars like this.
I remember back when I was a broker in the 30yr CBOT bond pit several guys were arrested by undercover FBI traders for "trading on the curb" or getting their open positions flat for the five minutes after the closing bell.
I won't hold my breath waiting for that sick fuck Holder to do anything about HFT.
Most ZH posts I read have yet to take this to the next level. With HFT having been ignored by the MSM and government for years? Why now?
I believe HFT offers Obama the opportunity to show America, before the elections, proof Wall Street is directly robbing Main Street. Thus the Obama admin will add “progressive” taxes, like the transaction tax the NY Times and Europe has been promoting for years, to punish Wall Street for the current crimes and those of the crash of 2008.
TO ALL RACIST JEW BASHERS
Make your arguments without the nazi jew hating rhetoric, please. You guys are smart enough to make good points without all the BS hate speach.
hey ass hole
he is not jewish he is scottish
clan stewart get it.
the jew hate is just an in joke cos we all know the scottish hate the jews.
schucks i bet since stewart hates the jews being that he is scottish.
this is just an in joke is to piss off stewart .
imagine if you hated jews and people kept calling you a filthy jew.
you would be pissed off yes no so it is with john stewart an ancient scottish rite mason with a deep seated hatred for what he calls yids.
although i said to him last week at the eyes wide shut child fuck party he should not call them yids as they have suffered enough what with the hiltler and the hollow cause and alls.
do you udderstand now.
we love the scotch
no hate here isaac only love
Changing the subject. Typical M.O. of the tribe.
Hey.
I support our aid to Israeli Jews. I vote for those that support Israel. I know the holcaust took place and is one of the most horrorific crimes of history.
I don't support or hate the seemingly endless self loathing and white hating white progressives, Jooos/blacks/Mexicans/Chinese/Indians/LGBTs... in America that are in the American hating banking, media, ACLU, dimocrat party, government bureaucracies, education, use stage names, etc....
However I am wary, distrustful, aghast, disbelieving, po'ed, and damn near mystified at their duplicity and stupidity.
http://www.whywerefuse.org
supporting the best future & respect for Jews is anything but support for the war-crimes of Israel paid for by slave-extraction of income aka taxes.
That "aid" to israel paid IDF soldiers to execute children in their cribs.
Total distraction as far as I'm concerned - other than the fact the thieves are stealing billions per year as Lewis speaks/writes about.
Although not a small amount of thievery, the entire structure is not to provide liquidity or price discovery (as you know), it is being used to keep the "indices" propped for the big payoff, and it is not for the common man.
IMO, anyone in the paper/electronic markets are going to be so butt-fucked they will literaly pass away after seeing what happens to their savings/bank accounts/pensions/IRA/401k/annuities etc....Of course, at the very bottom the “chosen” will be there to pick up every penny of value.
For anyone asleep, this book and interviews should be fair warning - but not about getting skimmed, but rather "skinned".
Maybe I'm missing something...but why is this situation consistently called "HFT?" Is there a definition for HFT? I suppose i could sit at home and trade at a frequency the life sheriffs would think is "high."
But from what I've heard what's going on is parasitic "front running." It may correlate in some way to HFT but that's about it. Front running, in the way it has been explained in this case is completely wrong and should be dealt with.
But if people are worried that "the market is rigged"...there are much, much, much, much bigger culprits to consider.
The hullabaloo is an sad example of the average citizen obtaining a muniscule amount of 'headline" information and assuming they suddenly have unearthed the holy grail of corruption. When, afterall, they're being used once again.
What they are doing is skimming off the top, it's stealing. Those guys think they are being clever and intelligent when in reality all they are is common bottom feeder theifs involved in fraud.
If it wasn't for you meddling kids at ZH....
"I'll get you next time you meddling kids!"
The trajedy is that once the HFT fiasco is cleaned up and it will be, there will be a big propagandist push to try to entice investors back into the market by claiming that the markets are now fair... which will be a total lie.
The markets are completely unfair. The skimming will be eliminated. However, the markets are anything but a free market. The price of individual stocks is absolutely controlled by the market makers and specialists and the "create infinite money out of thin air" too big to fail banks behind them. The MMs, Specilists and big banks absolutely know where the price of every stock is going because they manage the price. How else to you think they get 100% perfect trading records over months and years.
Because they manage price, everyone who is not one of them or connected through the shady network to them is at a disadvantage and has money stolen from them by the MMs, specialists and banks.
People should still stay away until banks are prohibited from trading and Glass-Steagall has returned.
You sound very uninformed.
BUT how can it be safe for your retirement and your children if it isn't managed?
Fink of da shilldren, oh please, why won't some-won fink of da shilldren?
So why didn't Jon just bring his brother on for this show? You know the one that "just retired at the end of last year from NYSE"???
Mike Lewis is a fucking troll and so is Jon Stewart!
Hey Michael..I am American.
The majority of us here are American..are we doing the "Canadian" thing pointing out for years that the Federal Reserve is lying at every avenue to maintain 0% rates that steal HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS from savers a year to pad their pockets, buy stocks and the deal is they have to buy absurd amounts of T-Bills a month to spin the plates?
When is the press gala and book coming out on Federal Reserve handing cash to Belgium to be a front for T-Bill purchases and the Federal Reserve also buying ES? We all know by now that this narcisstic president will greenlight any action that allows him to have people believe he is doing a good job so we know without question back in March of 2009 he also was talked into permitting the purchase of stocks, ETFs, S&P contracts with the Fed slush fund...or are we going to wait until the debt is 22 Trillion and a black swan event that cannot be managed causes stocks to go down 40% in a matter of a week..because it is going to happen.
So when is that book coming out?
I doubt that very much. You may be joking, but I see alot of jew hating going on around here. I am not jewish by the way. This shit gets going and more people think its cool to jump in line with others and start bashing a race or culture. And I'm proud to be called an asshole by someone like you. Go fuck yourself you racist piece of shit. I am nothing like you and never will be and sleep very well at night knowing this.
We're just waiting for The Sampson Option to appear when this latest Wall Street stunt with IEX Group fails.
Yeah, I have no idea where the Jew-bashing comes from. Somehow, people just love to hate the Jews. It has to be something 'spiritual' or who knows... it's certainly not rational.
By the way, I think John Stewart's angle on this is not that there's inequality or unfairness in financial systems, but simply that he doesn't like 'big business' or "The 1%" (even though he's probably one of them).
Yeah, I have no idea where the Jew-bashing comes from
google image israel white phosphorus
look up the crimes of george soros.
we will leave it at that cos you sound like you have your head up your fat arse
Phosphorus bombs are nasty, no doubt - when used by anyone. So that's the entirety of your argument, that Israel used phosphorus grenades and George Soros is Jewish and is a criminal? I think you are making my case for me, thanks.
why is humanity rejecting israel numb nuts?
just blind hatred for innocent folks is it.
what kind of human beings had a dance party on 911.
who would dance in new york on that day
why
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMkX5uemLyk
Hate will destroy the world.
There will be no peace, only satisfaction.
Where's the Art Department?
http://www.whywerefuse.org : shministim
Lots of Israelis are against what their government does, a part of which is mandatory unlawful military service to commit war-crimes (or be jailed for refusing to enlist).
Many Jews are also not Israeli and are not legally or morally responsible for the actions of Israel.
Jon "9/11 was an outside job" Stewart?
I'll exonerate him when he changes that dubious title to "inside" after he brings Dr. Steven Jones, Niels Harrit and Kevin Ryan on his show and does a sequel with Mike Lewis about the level of graft, corruption and fraud in the precious metals markets.
Boobie!
Squid427, good on you. It's typical of sad, insecure failures to look around for someone, anyone other than themselves to blame for their own miserable condition.
Umberto Eco's "The Prague Cemetery" shows a great picture of how this kind thinks, in ugly detail. We have a few contenders on this site that seem to be determined to match his anti-hero, in words if not (one hopes) in deeds.
(And then there are the out-and-out, off-their-meds schizophrenics, though you'd need to be a trained professional to tell them apart from the run-of-the-mill ranters.)
I guess we're going to have to rely on Canadian traders to police Chicago and NYC traders.
I can live with that.
How come Zero Hedge never said anything about HFT?
Time was when many an avatar on ZH sported pics of said HFT's.
I jus gradjiated frum collage wit a social libral arts dagree and was taut that kapitlism is bad an sew r da kapitlists!
Plz vote 4 Obama agin cuz he promised u will pay 4 my $100k stoodent loan!
Woohoo! Change u kan Beleve IN!
You are correct. Capitalism is bad...because we have a false version of it. You have a career at Faux News ahead of you, congrats!
A couple generations from now all the big banksters spawn will supposedly be law abiding, filthy fucking rich politicians and make jokes about how great grandpa stole money in the stockmarket (like the moonshiners) all the while still engaged in illegal activity but appearing to be a goodie-two shoe.
Then again at the rate of transgression the US is in they may not even feel obligated to talk about........"yeah im a criminal so fucking what if you don't want to be killed you better stfu".
Fuck 'em all!
I'll put u down as undecieded!
HAHHAHAHA
Couple generations from now the common Murrkin corporate-slave won't have any idea there was such a thing as life without debt or life not ruled by corporate overlords.
They never will have heard of "wages" or "savings" or "retirement" or even about "rights" except what grampy goes on about in his alzeimer's delerium. Oh, silly gramps spinnin' those olde timey yarns.
Gramps: Back in mah day we's had rights and no cameras in every single room o' da house and if police wanted ta search ya's you had the power to say no if they didn't has a warrant!
kids: oh gramps, you say the wildest things. Come on now and take your happy-meds. We all take them because we go to jail if we don't. That'll keep you from your delerium. us too! YAY! Thanks BigPharma, you're our new gawd.
Exposed bankster housing market crimes and fraud... what happened?... nothing.
Showed how the $800 billion bailout went to insolvent banks... nothing happened.
Exposed Cramer's manipulation crimes... what happened to Cramer?... absolutely nothing.
Exposed HFT... what happens next?... gee, let me take a guess -lol
IT's all about the global warmin'!
Correction- $23 trillion to corrupt, bankrupt banks both foreign and domestic.
Local sheriffs in many towns stopped evicting people for unpaid mortgages. They didn't trust the banks were truthful. ONE sheriff actually went into offices of Bank of America to seize their property for money owed to a customer, 2011. That was a real eye opener.
Wall Street is corrupt. That is the news today, yesterday and tomorrow. HFT...skinnng cats now.
Occupy scared the shit out of the criminals. OWS in the spring. Shut down the FED, return those powers to the Government. Prosecute the big banks and break them up. Restore Glass Stegal. (SP) Now there is an agenda. We can slow down the corruption by decentralizing banks...breaking them up.
Sorry, Wall Street, there goes your cocaine and whore money...
Meanwhile...bread and circus for all!
US government needs crooked banks to launder the drug money!
Aside from a number of your shakey accusations, the mere mention of OWS, disqualifies your comments from meaningful consideration.
OWS did the public shaming Zerohedge could not. They hit the right target audience because they were both the audience and the presenters, the victims and those who will strike in the largest numbers.
Occupy Wall Street spun off into Occupy the SEC and Occupy the Fed and have done a stellar job, each.
Ban HFT.
i'm confused. just who in the hell is Stewart working for...?
Is that the right question? Who is his BROTHER working for? Go check. Hint: N_SE
Congress blesses itself with a privilege to quietly front-run their own personal trading with insider legislative knowledge not publicly visible. Any idea that they intend to make a stink about someone else carving off a chunk of the pie by corrupt front-running is hopelessly naive.
@StandardDeviant
The really sad part is pretty much everyone on this site is smarter than I am. I am a neophyte is the game of macro economics and financials. I am here to learn form all you guys and I don't want anymosity with anyone. I said on another post a few weeks ago, what the PTB do is not a reflection of any group of people. Individuals are responsible for their own actions. I understand that there is a disproportionate number of jewish bankers but that doesnot make all jews guilty. Just because I'm an American does not make me guilty for what the US Gov does. Just because alot of bankers are jewish does not make all jews guilty. Indiviually we will be judged for our crimes.
Where are the downvoters' comments?
As usual, those against the individual are quick to attack others and slow to defend their own positions.
Talkin about 'the individual' just isn't cool anymore. All about 'groups' these days, dontcha know?
Closed the IRA yesterday... going to park my arse on some land and withdraw from the crooks system of "cheat the working man" no I will not comply!
Except in the USA you'll be paying land tax & you'll lose the land if you don't, and even if you do pay the land tax you'll lose the land to eminent domain with no recourse if it's chosen.
The whole flap going on over HFT is nothing compared to what the TBTF banks did with the LIBOR rigging.
Forget the SEC....the FTC should be after the banks for price fixing in regards to the SWAPS the banks sold to unwitting customers who had no idea that what they were being sold was worthless since the LIBOR was rigged by the same party selling them the SWAP.
The group I work for was screwed....high pressure sale of SWAPS to us by a TBTF bank that was making a large loan to us....the bank's failure to divulge that the SWAPS were worthless since they were simultaneously setting LIBOR.
The damages caused by the LIBOR rigging, if ever collected from these banks, would eliminate virtually all of the TBTF banks. Under FTC rules on price fixing, these should also be treble damages....not that anyone in our government is ever going to enforce something against a TBTF bank.
Tyler, IMO you left out the best segment: http://thedailyshow.cc.com/guests/michael-lewis/3efna8/exclusive---micha...
Part of the problem with this whole discussion is that you have comedians and entertainers that think they know something about HFT.
If they never try to address it, how will they ever understand it?
Mockery & entertainment brings focus & a wide audience.
HFT is a distraction in the game of trying to persuade people to move their money. The game isn't rigged because of HFT! It is rigged because of the Fed!
Of course. With a room full of bank robbers with masks on I will decide which singular one is at fault because all the others are pointing there fingers at him/her with the most convincing mannerisms.
There's always an advantage to being closer to the market. Even in the day before computers, the investor who made decisions based on yesterdays closing price in this morning's paper and phoned in an order to the broker before going to work was at a disadvantage to someone sitting next to a ticker tape machine. This is just the extension of that as technology has improved. It may be a useful thing to eliminate some of the sub-second speed advantage, but you'll not get rid of it all, particularly if someone thinks smarter or faster than another person or has a computer algorithm that's better or faster than another algorithm. I don't think it's cheating, it just means that the game is only for the very biggest players and the small trader is a fool to sit down at the table.
It might be an interesting thing to not make available the order flow information, just the best bid, ask, last trade and size information. Anyone with access to the order flow or book is not allowed to trade for themselves.
No, it's not the same.
Like Lewis said, it's ILLEGAL if a human being were to make the same transaction.
What's cheating is if they say they aren't doing it, or if they say they're improving customer value pricing by doing this and if it isn't so, or if they crash the market due to emergent interaction of the several competing HFT platforms. We've seen that happen.
This required undo-operations which were selective without appeal and market halts which further destablizes the markets exchanges and also disrupts any ability to involve trust in a fair system when a human arbitrarily reverses particular favoured trades.
Given how fast all the computers & networks are there should be ubiquitous access to the exchanges at the same price/latency so we all have access. IF it was fair.
Until it is fair I say we dump it all and put in nothing again, perhaps wagers if one is daring (as I have with USLV, HVU, agq options) and be wiling to lose it all as that's what the outcome can very well be (no matter the price moves, for that reason & the Corzine Swan outcome).
Why do some conspiracies sell better than others?
Because slaves always want more power to the regulators and some scams are an upbeat to more power to government and slaves like that and some conspiracies are because of the power of government and slaves hate that.
Lot's of Jew Hater-Baters on this discussion. Watch the vids skip the bloviating.
Since the colocated traders on the NYSE were under the oversight of Jon Stewart's brother I'm relieved he had the stones to bring his own brother on his show to mock him for permitting such outright cheating and thievery.
Oh wait, that didn't happen? Ya don'ts say.