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Maybe you actually know a lot about dark pools, but by expressing fear without expressing knowledge, you give the impression that you're mostly afraid because t

by KMag 14y ago

Maybe you actually know a lot about dark pools, but by expressing fear without expressing knowledge, you give the impression that you're mostly afraid because the name "dark pool" sounds like some kind of unregulated secret exchange run out of a meat locker by the Russian mafia. I think Kid Dynamite (a retired trader, non-HFT) has some pretty reasonable articles about dark pools: http://kiddynamitesworld.com/dark-pools-are-not-scary-shady-places-that-rip-off-average-investors/ http://kiddynamitesworld.com/dark-pools-are-not-scary-shady-... Disclaimer: my employer helps mutual funds, pension funds, universities, etc. place large orders on the market, using a variety of techniques (including dark pools) to try and smooth out the market impact of these big trades and minimize the the amount clients lose to market participants who are trying to anticipate their short-term trading behavior.

josh2600 14y ago
Yes, I am aware of what dark pools are, and I'm not trying to imply fear. It's irrational to fear things you can't change, and it's unreasonable for me to deplore someone else allocating their money in an interesting fashion. I don't mean Dark pools are inherently bad because they're dark. These Dark pools expose society to unmanaged risk because of the implicit guarantees of support from the general population. It's not so much evil as it is secret, and secrets with public shares are interesting secrets indeed. As I said, I don't live in fear of Dark pools or any financial instrument, but it's important to understand that there is a significant difference between the normal sale and purchase of securities and the activity which happens in Dark pools. Otherwise there would be no need to draw a distinction.