Category: Trading

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Anatomy of a flash crash | Fiscal Times

By John Kemp

ANATOMY OF A FLASH CRASH

In their report on the 2010 equity market crash, the SEC and CFTC staff found that “against a backdrop of unusually high volatility and thinning liquidity, a large fundamental trader (a mutual fund complex) initiated a sell program to sell a total of 75,000 E-mini contracts (valued at approximately $4.1 billion) as a hedge to an existing equity position”.

“This large fundamental trader chose to execute this sell program via an automated execution algorithm (“Sell Algorithm”) that was programmed to feed orders into the June 2010 E-Mini market to target an execution rate set to 9% of the trading volume calculated over the previous minute, but without regard to price or time,” the report noted. “On May 6, when markets were already under stress, the Sell Algorithm chosen by the large trader to only target trading volume, and neither price nor time, executed the sell program extremely rapidly in just 20 minutes”…………..

via When Oil Prices Drop in a ‘Flash’: Is It Real?.

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For Superfast Stock Traders, a Way to Jump Ahead in Line – WSJ.com

By SCOTT PATTERSON and JENNY STRASBURG

Haim Bodek was a Wall Street insider at Goldman Sachs and UBS before launching his own [high-frequency] trading firm.

Mr. Bodek approached the Securities and Exchange Commission last year alleging that stock exchanges, in a race for more revenue, had worked with rapid-fire trading firms to give them an unfair edge over everyday investors.

He became convinced exchanges were providing such an edge after he says he was offered one himself when he ran a high-speed trading firm—a way to place orders that can be filled ahead of others placed earlier. The key: a kind of order called “Hide Not Slide”………

via For Superfast Stock Traders, a Way to Jump Ahead in Line – WSJ.com.

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How to keep markets safe in the era of high-speed trading | Chicago Fed

By Carol Clark

With the chance of an order passing though controls at so many levels, how can things go wrong? One possibility Chicago Fed researchers found is that most of the trading firms interviewed that build their own trading systems apply fewer pre-trade checks to some trading strategies than others. Trading firms explained that they do this in order to reduce latency.

Another area of concern is that some firms do not have stringent processes for the development, testing, and deployment of code used in their trading algorithms. For example, a few trading firms interviewed said they deploy new trading strategies quickly by tweaking old code and placing it into production in a matter of minutes. In fact, one firm interviewed had two incidents of out-of-control algorithms. To address the first occurrence, the firm added additional pre-trade risk checks. The second out-of-control algorithm was caused by a software bug that was introduced as a result of someone fixing the error code that caused the first situation.

The study also found that erroneous orders may not be stopped by some clearing BDs/FCMs because they are relying solely on risk controls set by the exchange. As noted earlier, however, risk controls at the exchange may be structured in such a way that they do not stop all erroneous orders.

via Chicago Fed Letter (PDF)

BD = broker-dealer

FCM = futures commission merchant

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NYSE to Pay $5 Million Penalty to SEC – WSJ.com

By CHAD BRAY

NYSE Euronext NYX +2.23% agreed to pay a $5 million penalty to settle allegations by the Securities and Exchange Commission that technology issues at the New York Stock Exchange gave some customers an “improper head start” on trading information. The case marks the first time the SEC has ever brought a case that resulted in a monetary penalty against an exchange.

via NYSE to Pay $5 Million Penalty to SEC – WSJ.com.

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ASX revenue from high frequency trading soars

A new data center, catering for high-speed trading, is becoming a major revenue-source for the ASX. My concern is that this could change the entire focus of the ASX, outweighing revenue from traditional stock market trading. Tom Steinert-Threlkeld at the Securities Technology Monitor writes:

The Australian Securities Exchange Group said Thursday that its revenue from Technical Services in its 2012 fiscal year topped the amount of revenue it received from stock market trading……

The growth in Technical Services revenue came as the company introduced different order types and execution services, and completed a state-of-the art data center. That data center operates at high speed and handles high volumes of trading orders, from computers belonging to trading firms that are located inside its walls. ASX said it was hosting 59 clients in the new data center as of June 30.

via Stock Trading Revenue Topped by Technology at Australia Exchange.

 

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Nanex ~ High frequency traders at work [video]

High Frequency Traders (HFT) jam thousands of quotes in MasterCard stock at the millisecond level on May 16, 2012.
From Eric Hunsader – Nanex

Entire video shows about 5 seconds of time, slowed so you can see what goes on at the millisecond level.
Each box represents one exchange. The SIP (CQS in this case) at the bottom shows the National Best Bid/Offer.

Watch how much Best Bid/Offer changes in a fraction of a second. The shapes represent quote changes which are the result of a change to the top of the book at each exchange. The time at the top of the screen is the time of the last quote or trade update in Eastern Time HH:MM:SS:mmm (mmm = millisecond).

Every exchange must process every quote from the others — for proper trade through price protection. This complex web of technology must run flawlessly every millisecond of the trading day, or arbitrage (HFT profit) opportunities will appear. If any of the connections are not running perfectly, High Frequency Traders can profit from the price discrepancies that result. It is easy for HFTs to cause delays in one or more of the connections between each exchange.

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New Research Busts High-Frequency Trading and Dark Pool Myths — CMCRC

Press Release: Capital Markets Cooperative Research Centre

CMCRC, the Australian independent academic centre for capital market research, has found that high-frequency trading (HFT) actually benefits capital market structures and performance, while dark pools may have damaging effects.

Speaking at an event in Beijing, Professor Frino outlined his research that showed that HFT activity adds real liquidity to markets and has no impact on price volatility — surprising findings, as HFT has regularly been accused of negatively impacting these measures of market quality.

“High frequency traders now account for more than 50 percent of trading volume in some global markets, whereas seven years ago it was virtually absent from markets,” Professor Frino said. “Alongside this trend is an explosion in so-called ‘dark pools,’ in which investors are executing their trading in invisible or non-transparent markets. Dark pools are making trading on exchanges less relevant.”

via New Research Busts High-Frequency Trading and Dark Pool Myths — CMCRC – Yahoo! Finance.

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BBC News – High-frequency trading and the $440m mistake

By Tim Harford

……There are two rather more predatory strategies. One is called algo-sniffing. Here, a super-fast computer tries to find other computers going about their everyday business of buying or selling shares, and figures out what they’re going to do and when.

The algo-sniffer can then get ahead of the game and exploit the slower computer. And of course you could have algo-sniffer-sniffers and algo-sniffer-sniffer-sniffers in a high-frequency arms race. No wonder speed can be so important.

And finally, a particular sub-category of the algo-sniffer is the spoofer, which deliberately makes fake offers designed to lure other computers to show their hands, then cancels the offers. Spoofing might be illegal, or at least against the rules of stock exchanges, but it’s hard to prove that it’s going on.

Andrew Haldane, executive director for financial stability at the Bank of England:

“What we have out there now is this complex array of multiple mutating interacting machines, algorithms. It’s constantly developing and travelling at ever higher velocities. And it’s just difficult to know what will pop out next. And that’s not an accident waiting to happen, that’s an accident that has been happening with increasing frequency over the last few years.”

via BBC News – High-frequency trading and the $440m mistake.

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Plans for curbs on high-speed share trading | The Australian

ASIC deputy chairman Belinda Gibson says automated trading needs robust controls. The corporate watchdog has blamed high-frequency trading for a big jump in the number of issues referred for investigation in the June half-year.

“This type of trading, and algorithms generally, continue to be of concern,” Ms Gibson said. “The measures we are proposing will strengthen our protection against the type of disruption we have recently seen in other markets.”

via Plans for curbs on high-speed share trading | The Australian.

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How High Frequency Trading Robots Are Creating a Bumpy Ride for Main Street – NASDAQ.com

By Barbara Cohen

While HFTs may argue that they bring liquidity to the Market, they cannot dispel the concerns that liquidity comes at a very high price to investors – increased volatility. In a report issued in September 2011, associate professor Frank Zhang of Yale University stated that once an instrument’s share volume exceeds 50%, trading becomes basically a “hot potato,” as HFTs trade the same positions, passing them back and forth amongst themselves. Inter-firm trading all but eliminates “Price Discovery,” determining share price by normal supply and demand factors, such as news events or positive/negative earnings releases.

Inter-firm high frequency trading also wreaks havoc for Main Street investors because of “cross spreading.” So many liquid stocks, such as BAC and MSFT, now execute in milliseconds, resulting in extreme “competition” for Main street investors. Queues to enter and exit are significantly longer, with hundreds of shares waiting to execute. Long queues force Main Street investors into the vulnerable position of having to buy at the offer or sell at the bid, a trading method known as “crossing the spread.”

via How High Frequency Trading Robots Are Creating a Bumpy Ride for Main Street – NASDAQ.com.

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