tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post1824827481523861844..comments2024-03-28T22:32:50.562+00:00Comments on Liberal England: How the flash boys have corrupted financial marketsJonathan Calderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00730157683743989696noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post-48118252377905798302014-06-01T01:33:30.406+01:002014-06-01T01:33:30.406+01:00The next step being when some genius, forever lost...The next step being when some genius, forever lost to science, figures out a way to use a modulated neutrino signal to send market information from Tokyo to London directly through the interior of the Earth, beating the light-speed signal running across the surface and gaining a crucial competitive advantage.Iain Colemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14539286303757409401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post-2414101253124984242014-05-31T23:17:04.364+01:002014-05-31T23:17:04.364+01:00The very first companies to adopt high frequency t...The very first companies to adopt high frequency trading would have made a lot of money. Followers would have made less money, and where they are heading there is even less money to be made. The arms race is very expensive and the return is falling.<br /><br />It's all down to the speed of light which determines how quickly data travels along a fibre optic cable, through switches and processors. The speed of light is fixed so as other factors are optimised, no team can win the race. The laws of physics mean that high frequency trading is not viable for very long. <br /><br />Brad Katsuyama changed things by artificially lengthening the cable entering a data centre running an exchange. By adding a few hundred milliseconds to data transfers, the exchange modified trading behaviour in one location. <br /><br />The tech wizardry used by high frequency traders may be useful in other circumstances. I assume that they are moving some intelligence from the trading system onto network interfaces and switches in order to make snappier decisions. Presumably spooks use similar techniques to separate data which interests them immediately from cat videos. There are less sinister applications however.Phil Beesleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18442987962398498812noreply@blogger.com