Flash Trading | More Funny Business on Wall Street?

Taming the oily Wall Street beast

(Photo: donkelphant.com)

Ask any investor what the last thing Wall Street needs is these days. There will be some variety in the answers you receive, but most anyone will agree that a stock market crash (always a bad thing) would be horrible right now. Particularly since America is barely beginning to claw its way back up out of the recession.

What could cause a stock market crash? There are a number of complicated ways to answer that, but for the purposes of this article, let’s examine something called flash trading, which the SEC is seriously considering banning. Not just because it gives certain high-powered investors a possible advantage, but because the same technology that makes flash trading (also known as high frequency trading) possible could create a feedback loop that grinds the market to a halt. At that point, payday loans and no fax payday loans won’t be enough to put Humpty Dumpty ba ck together again.

We don’t need more shenanigans

Sarah Lynch reports for The Wall Street Journal that the Securities and Exchange Commission is considering stopping the flash trading practice that critics claim “gives an unfair advantage to some traders by giving them an early look at buy and sell orders.” ... click here to read the rest of the article titled "Flash Trading | More Funny Business on Wall Street?"