High-frequency trading, or HFT, is suddenly the focus of investigations by the New York State Attorney General’s office, the FBI, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission. It’s also the subject of a best-selling book, Michael Lewis’s “The Flash Boys,” which has catapulted the issue onto 60 Minutes and The Daily Show, among other prominent media places.
High-frequency traders use privileged computer placement to gain access to exchange data milliseconds ahead of the pack; then they insert themselves between buyers and sellers in order to turn tiny price differences into high-volume profits.
Staying on top of the latest happenings from the world of trading is not always easy. However, thanks to platforms such as Learn to Trade, just about anyone can get to grips with the basics of trading. So, whether you are intrigued by Forex trading or want to learn more about managing your investment portfolio, there are a wide variety of online resources out there that can make trading more transparent. However, if these guides don’t make it much clearer, there are always other ways you can get involved in these trading schemes. A lot of people have been trading in the foreign exchange by seeking financial advice from companies like Gleneagles Securities, for example. That might be a safer way to start trading, ensuring that you have better trading experiences with your local brokerage.
Since the Flash Crash of May 2010, there has been much talk about HFT’s potential to destabilize the securities markets. The world has been slower to wake up to the more basic point that, even in the stablest of times, high-frequency trading is electronic highway robbery – a raid on the pocketbooks of investors and the credibility of financial markets.
Many people are attempting to try and pull apart these HTF strategies through using Paper Trading simulators, on websites such as bearbulltraders.com/simulator/. By not risking their own money, they are trying to figure how to trade with, and how to counter trade HFT algorithms and institutions.
Now, at last, the immoral and predatory nature of this activity is beginning to attract the notice of lawmakers as well as regulators, journalists, and talk-show hosts. Here’s something – one thing – Washington could do about it: enact a Wall Street speculation tax.
Because of the tremendous volume on which algorithmic traders depend, a very small tax on individual transactions – too small to make a noticeable difference to ordinary investors – would be enough to make high-frequency trading unprofitable. In addition, a speculation tax, or financial transaction tax, would raise significant revenue – hundreds of billions of dollars over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. It would collect that money from other high-volume Wall Street players, even as it incentivized them to slow down a bit, thus nudging the financial markets that people gain a better understanding of through platforms similar to IQ Option away from churning and short term gamesmanship toward more useful private and public investment.
That combination of benefits explains why a wide range of economists and other experts – including many notable figures from inside the financial industry itself – have come out in favor of the idea.
Eleven EU nations are moving towards the enactment of such a tax. In our country, speculation-tax bills have been introduced in both chambers of the 113th Congress. Iowa Senator Tom Harkin and Oregon Representative Peter DeFazio have joined forces to propose a .03 percent tax (that’s just 30 cents per $1000). Minnesota Representative Keith Ellison has introduced a bill calling for a significantly higher, but still modest, tax of 0.5 percent. Their efforts deserve wide and serious support.