U.S. SEC targets 10 firms in high frequency trading probe

D

dealmaker

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been seeking information on 10 registered broker dealers as part of an ongoing investigation into high-frequency trading strategies, according to an internal SEC document reviewed by Reuters.

The regulator told its staff in late March that it was interested in seeing any tips, complaints, or referrals that they receive concerning the brokers and high frequency trading.

The firms listed are Allston Trading LLC; Hudson River Trading LLC; Jump Trading LLC; Latour Trading LLC, which is an affiliate of Tower Trading; Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, owned by Bank of America Group; Octeg LLC, which has been merged into a unit of KCG Holdings Inc.; Tradebot Systems Inc.; Two Sigma Investments LLC; Two Sigma Securities LLC; and Virtu Financial.

http://hedgeworld.com/open_news/read_news.cgi?section=legl&story=legl3515.html
 
Unless they have evidence of laws that are actually on the books being broken by these firms, I hope none of them cooperate. This seems like a witch hunt to me. Just because something isn't "fair", that doesn't make it illegal
 
IAS_LLC said:
Unless they have evidence of laws that are actually on the books being broken by these firms, I hope none of them cooperate. This seems like a witch hunt to me. Just because something isn't "fair", that doesn't make it illegal
More...
Of course it's a witch hunt and cooperation is not optional when it comes to Attorney General Eric "Shakedown" Schneiderman or the SEC. These guys must not have been making their voluntary campaign donations lately.

Seriously, the market's gone up so much in the past few years with all this HFT trading, just think what would happen without these 10 firms manipulating prices higher every day? We might get the economy our politicians and regulators delivered and the market wouldn't like that at all. ;)
 
IAS_LLC said:
Unless they have evidence of laws that are actually on the books being broken by these firms, I hope none of them cooperate. This seems like a witch hunt to me. Just because something isn't "fair", that doesn't make it illegal
More...

One more time-if you trade A LOT intraday(stocks in particular) you would know and see what's broken. Have a nice day.
 
Sure, the system is broken, but that is due to reg nms. Exploiting government mandated market inefficiencies isnt illegal.
 
MoreLeverage said:
Seriously, the market's gone up so much in the past few years with all this HFT trading, just think what would happen without these 10 firms manipulating prices higher every day? We might get the economy our politicians and regulators delivered and the market wouldn't like that at all. ;)
More...

An artificial stock market and the general economy have nothing to do with one another. Stocks are at all-time highs with multi-decades low participation from Americans in general. So the vast majority of people out there couldn't care less what the Dow does... matter of fact, they don't even know what it's done lately.

True inflation is rampant: food and fuel, the most vital necessities for life are going straight up in price. True employment is double-digits nationwide overall, with more workers under-employed with lower median wages than ever in recent times.

That is the real economy out there. What the Russell does on zero volume or what the S&P does five minutes into the close on a manufactured VIX slam is meaningless. Maybe less than meaningless, actually.
 
IAS_LLC said:
Sure, the system is broken, but that is due to reg nms. Exploiting government mandated market inefficiencies isnt illegal.
More...

why sure it's broken, and broken badly. But it sounds like the powers that be are taking at least the first steps towards mending those breaks.

whenever traders in here opine how HFT liquidity drains and front-run theft have altered the markets, pro-HFT programmers are quick to reply with, "adapt or perish"

well, that's exactly the same response we have here now. When the regulators change things to alter the ability for HFT programs to leach from the markets, all those non-trader mathematicians will have to adapt. Or perish.

Simple as that :D
 
austinp said:
why sure it's broken, and broken badly. But it sounds like the powers that be are taking at least the first steps towards mending those breaks.

whenever traders in here opine how HFT liquidity drains and front-run theft have altered the markets, pro-HFT programmers are quick to reply with, "adapt or perish"

well, that's exactly the same response we have here now. When the regulators change things to alter the ability for HFT programs to leach from the markets, all those non-trader mathematicians will have to adapt. Or perish.

Simple as that :D
More...

Do you have any reason to believe the "mathematicians" are unable to adapt? What makes a price action trader more versatile? I welcome regime change, it creates a whole list of oportunities to exploit before they are arbitraged away (I'm also not a spoofer/front-runner, etc). No matter what the SEC decides to do, it will have its ineffeciencies and and weak spots to exploit for the algo guys. They may blow up a couple accounts at the onset of the new regulatory enviorment, but they will eventually figure it out and there will be something new for the guys who stare at their charts to complain about.
 
IAS_LLC said:
Do you have any reason to believe the "mathematicians" are unable to adapt? What makes a price action trader more versatile? I welcome regime change, it creates a whole list of oportunities to exploit before they are arbitraged away (I'm also not a spoofer/front-runner, etc). No matter what the SEC decides to do, it will have its ineffeciencies and and weak spots to exploit for the algo guys. They may blow up a couple accounts at the onset of the new regulatory enviorment, but they will eventually figure it out and there will be something new for the guys who stare at their charts to complain about.
More...

Do you have any reason to believe that all of the mathematicians whose entire edge to trading relies on front-run orders speed, have any other ability to profit than that?

If one's sole game is front-run tactics and said tactics get rendered moot, what next?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top