Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : The *NEW* Frank Coluccio Technology Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Win-Lose-Draw who wrote (34733)	8/1/2010 4:47:39 PM
From: Frank A. Coluccio	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 46821

re: "At this point, all the "front-running" algos can really do is take turns raiding each others' pockets." Hi WLD. I'm sure there are many, even right here in this forum, who will agree with, and some already have. W.r.t the larger game taking place, here's an example from another perspective, as illustrated by two tweets just a few minutes apart within the past hour: @fcoluccio: A pro offers great insights in inner workings of algorithmic trading platforms and attempts at fairness administration: bit.ly 35 minutes ago via web @BobFrankston: @fcoluccio Trading would be better if we grouped trades instead of relying on microsecond edges. Today's markets are not really markets -- What's the difference between "people" being grouped together and "servers" being grouped together, other than to eliminate the frailties of human computational skills and response time capabilities? And if you eliminate the servers, why stop there? When was the last time anyone saw a job ad for a ticker tape reader or keypunch operator working the floors, although even those would be fair game for extinguishing if the purge were to be complete. Next would come the telegraph, one would have to assume. Mind you, I am not by any means enamored by the HFT model, or in favor of the handicap it imposes on ordinary traders and individual stockowners, but merely citing historical trends and testing some of the waters as I have observed them over the decades from a purely technological vantage point. FAC ------

To: Win-Lose-Draw who wrote (34733)	8/1/2010 4:48:03 PM
From: axial	Respond to of 46821

"At this point, all the "front-running" algos can really do is take turns raiding each others' pockets." Yes. There's a kind of perverse satisfaction in watching this play out. In a way, it's reminiscent of battleships in the early 20th century, where nations bankrupted themselves to build bigger behemoths. Then came WWII: they were all sunk by aircraft carriers ;) --- The problem with the idea that they're raiding each others' pockets is of course, that they're raiding our pockets. More financial-sector "rent", parasitic and non-productive. Jim