Economics
Wall Street’s Speed Demons Are Heroes
- Academic research favors automated trading firms by 2-1 margin
- Contrary to ‘Flash Boys’ image, HFTs improve market quality
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Across the wider world, Wall Street’s speed demons are all too often cast as the villains of the stock market.
As computerized trading firms have become the dominant buyers and sellers of equities, they’ve been blamed for exploiting investors and causing bouts of extreme volatility, and were famously portrayed by Michael Lewis as part of a rigged system in “Flash Boys.” The Bundesbank said they can help trigger flash crashes and Hillary Clinton made policing them an election issue.