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Speed is only one issue with autonomous algorithm design. Yes, the speed thing grabs the headlines but the boiler-plate objective is to front-run the slower pl

Speed is only one issue with autonomous algorithm design. Yes, the speed thing grabs the headlines but the boiler-plate objective is to front-run the slower players. There's a wealth of opportunity in processing the event stream in a more robust way than others and faster too. Think semi-HFT, semi-autonomous. Most trading platforms are primarily loss leaders for the 'professional' version and otherwise attached to a non-open source business plan.

cmdkeen 14y ago
But doesn't that mean you're at the mercy of the professional HFTs who can "front run" anyone running on your platform?
- kasey_junk 14y ago
  You've hit a pet peeve of mine so sorry about the tirade. People use the term "front run" incorrectly and it is important to point this out. Front running is a very specific activity and is illegal. If there is evidence of front running people need to be prosecuted. That said, I've worked on several systems and never seen any of them that would allow a faster market participant to see your order flow without your permission. This is what front running is. People who don't understand the term seem to think seeing market data before other participants is front running it's not. There have always been and will always be some traders that see (and can react to) market data faster than everyone else. In the era of electronic trading this information latency cost is going down, not going up.