Forums: Trading Spaces

Scientific Proof That High Frequency Trading Induces Adverse Changes In Market Microstructure And Dynamics, And Puts Market Fairness Under QuestionUp until recently, any debate between proponents and opponents of High Frequency Trading would typically be represented by heated debates of high conviction on either side, with discussions rapidly deteriorating into ad hominem attacks and the producer screaming 'cut to commercial' to prevent fistfights. Luckily, all this is about to change. In a research paper by Reginald Smith of the Bouchet Franklin Institute in Rochester titled "Is high-frequency trading inducing changes in market microstructure and dynamics?" the author finds that he...

Market Manipulation On Display "Rarely does it get this blatant..... this ...goes on every day, but once in a while it's just "in your face." Tonight was one of those examples."

Petrol and power prices have risen sharply in New Zealand after the government introduced a controversial emissions trading scheme. The government has pressed ahead with plans to slash the nation's carbon output, despite widespread opposition and New Zealand's larger neighbour Australia shelving its own scheme. Motorists were hit by a 3c (1.4p) rise in the price of a litre of petrol overnight, while householders face a 5 per cent increase in gas and electricity prices. It was the first step in a complex scheme, universally referred to as "the ETS", to slash carbon emissions back to 1990 levels. Some disgruntled...

In 2002, after 12 years at Bear Stearns, investment banker Adam Afshar came to the conclusion that, for all their supposed expertise, most Wall Street traders really weren't very good at predicting anything. "I got the sense from my time there," says Afshar, "that market analysts have little insight and generally provide very little value to their firms." So Afshar set out to find market opportunities in, as he puts it, "a more systematic way". The result was Hyde Park Global Investments, a small trading firm based in Atlanta, Georgia, that doesn't hire market analysts or portfolio managers. Instead, its...

Well, we had another flash Crash yesterday, just like the one on May 6, 2010. The only difference is, this time the stocks in question went up instead of down. In case you missed it, Washington Post’s stock went from $458 to $900 per share in the blink of an eye. All the orders at $900 were cancelled and the market authorities did the usual, “move along folks, nothing to see here,” bit. The culprits in both incidents (May 6 and yesterday) were High Frequency Trading Programs (HFTPs). The HFTP industry (and lobbying efforts), always defend their actions by stating...

Guess who holds patent for carbon trading plan Disgraced Fannie Mae CEO set to cash in for millions Obama housing adviser Franklin Raines Former Clinton and Obama budget adviser Franklin Raines owns a key carbon-emissions patent he developed as CEO of the government-sponsored mortgage giant Fannie Mae, positioning him and his partners to make millions of dollars if it is used in any carbon-capping scheme implemented by the Obama administration. Raines and his associates led Fannie Mae and Congress to believe Fannie Mae owned the patent, despite public records to the contrary, a WND investigation has found. Raines and his...

China carbon market prospects not optimistic Although China has supplied massive volumes of carbon credits to the global market, prospects for CO2 trade within the country itself are not optimistic, a senior climate official said on Sunday. Lu Xuedu, influential vice-head of China's National Climate Centre and former member of the United Nations Executive Board responsible for approving clean development mechanism (CDM) projects, told a conference in Beijing that carbon transaction volumes within China were likely to remain low. "The domestic market will probably remain small, because you just need to ask the simple question -- Who will buy emissions...