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Lewis may be a solid guy -- I don't know him, so I can't say. I can say with a great deal of certainty that he hasn't read, or doesn't understand, any of the c
by throwaway201404 13y ago
Lewis may be a solid guy -- I don't know him, so I can't say.
I can say with a great deal of certainty that he hasn't read, or doesn't understand, any of the contemporary literature on market quality. If he did, he'd know that the efficient realization of market impact (you buy and the price goes up) is a property of effective markets. In the absence of actors to ensure this process of price discovery, all traders will pay unfair prices as small changes in supply and demand remain undigested.
I would also suggest that "young people at the best schools want to go skimming in the market" is reductio ad absurdum at best and ad hominem at worst, which sours my opinion of his ability to make a cogent argument without resorting to the Wall-Street-bogeyman trope. Then again, I suppose that's his job as a writer -- a story about the meek Canadian David battling the establishment equities market Goliath makes for a better read than a nuanced look at the role of various players in a complex ecosystem.
(Throwaway because my views are not necessarily those of my employer.)
- ganeumann 13y agoI'm not sure I understand your argument. Arbitrageurs help with price-discovery and are useful agents, though much maligned. HFT, as Lewis describes it, is not arbitrage, it's front-running. This doesn't add to market quality, it's just information theft.
- yummyfajitas 13y agoHFTs are making price impact happen faster than big players can stop it. That's improving efficiency. That's exactly what Lewis is complaining about. It's not front running since the HFT is not your agent. http://www.chrisstucchio.com/blog/2014/fervent_defense_of_frontrunning_hfts.html http://www.chrisstucchio.com/blog/2014/fervent_defense_of_fr...
- 001sky 13y agoI'm not sure i follow the argument that introduction of information by a middleman is adding to market efficiency. Your note expressly suggests liquidity be be witheld...when trading with people who have information. As a result, market makers try to focus on providing liquidity to people with consumption preference while avoiding (or charging higher prics to) the informed. Only to usurp the information to benefit the market maker (or other intermediary party...fronting or not) at the expense of the person introducing information. Or, are you trying to say that person is actually 'witholding' information and by 'appropriating' it, you are then responsible for 'introducing' it?
- yummyfajitas 13y agoBig players are hiding info about their trades and changes to the demand curve, at least until after their trade finishes. Predatory traders are revealing this info.
- trevelyan 13y agoIf an exchange was front-running customer orders, that would be unethical and illegal. So why is it suddenly OK for exchanges to enable front-running by third parties and profit on their actions by charging insane amounts for colocation and data services? And - please do answer this - if what we care about is market efficiency and liquidity and there are no problems with front-running in principle, what is gained through the current division of labour except legal obfuscation? Shouldn't it be more efficient to let exchanges screw over their customers directly?