"We risk becoming the best informed society that has ever died of ignorance"
- Rubén Blades

"You can't make up anything anymore. The world itself is a satire. All you're doing is recording it"
- Art Buchwald

"It's getting exciting now, two and one-half. Think of everything we've accomplished, man. Out these windows, we will view the collapse of financial history. One step closer to economic equilibrium"
- Tyler Durden

"It is your corrupt we claim. It is your evil that will be sought by us. With every breath, we shall hunt them down."
- Boondock Saints

Thursday, September 29, 2011

HFT Alert Coming To An Inbox Near You

I suppose that the mantra "if you can't beat them, join them" seems to be what most of are adhering to these days.  Our futile efforts to arrest market manipulation and what amounts to the equivalent of Human Growth Hormone (High Frequency Trading) in financial markets seem to offer no assurance.  So in the spirit of the CFA and ethics and honesty, we'll follow the alerts that are set up by HCMI so that we may ride along as HFT rapes markets while the SEC keeps saying Waddell and Reed caused the flash crash and that HFT provides liquidity, tightens spreads, and makes most small investors grab their ankles.
From EON:
SANTA BARBARA, Calif.--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--HCMI announced today the release of HFT Alert, the first real time software designed to detect high frequency and algorithmic trading systems. HFT Alert identifies when these trading systems are running and what stocks are being affected. HFT Alert can detect several types of algorithms as well as stocks experiencing elevated quote rates associated with algorithmic trading.
“This is the first time software like this has been available”
More and more, trading is being dominated by algorithmic systems that now account for nearly 70% of daily volume. Many of these systems provide the liquidity that is essential for a functioning market. But some of these algorithms are designed to increase volatility and use their speed advantage in trading. This is why monitoring for algorithmic activity is so important, especially for portfolio managers and traders. 

Features include symbol lists, audio alarms, color alerts and graphs that display the overall level of algorithmic activity across all exchanges. Unlimited symbol lists provide the flexibility to monitor only a list of stocks or highlight those among all the stocks HFT Alert identifies. Data is automatically archived so users can go back through any day’s activity. 

“This is the first time software like this has been available,” says HCMI’s Steve Hammer. “Since the ‘Flash Crash’ last year, there has been much debate over algorithmic activity. Now, our software enables users to see this activity in real time.”
Posted by Paul Revere at 9/29/2011 09:55:00 AM