Finally, high frequency trading is getting some attention (I first blogged about it almost four years ago!) The new book “Flash Boys” by Michael Lewis has Wall Street fat cats in an uproar (just what you might expect when they get caught with both hands and maybe even a foot or two in the cookie jar).
MSNBC puts it bluntly — “Yes, the stock market is rigged” (that link actually has an easy-to-understand description of how you are getting robbed every time you buy stock).
Even better (and more entertaining) is Jon Stewart’s interview with book author Lewis. I’ve posted all three videos of the extended interview, and if you care at all about the economy, business, and how far the playing field has been tilted against you, you gotta watch it all:
It is fascinating not just that most stock markets are rigged, but that those in the media who purport to be giving you financial advice to help you are actually purposely helping Wall Street to fleece you out of your money. With the full cooperation of the government who have been pushing the middle class to trust their retirement savings in the market.
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All the more reason for a per share per transaction fee.
And the other interesting thing I heard was how may SEC staffers quit and get hired by those firms. Why would someone confront that if it costs them a higher paying job.
Fortunately, most of the people hurt the most by this are day traders, who don’t help market prices much anyway. I think traditional long term investors won’t be seriously effected.
Also, the money being creamed off per transaction is orders of magnitude higher in the bond market. So much so, it got its own Congressional Report in 2012. Read it and weep: http://www.gao.gov/assets/590/587714.pdf
Yet, it doesn’t get as much attention because it’s not as sexy as stocks. Having said that, Michael Lewis himself has written about the bond market decades ago. The shocking thing is it has barely changed. Despite a minor financial meltdown.
(E.g. Page 19, Table 3)