This is one of the better overviews of HFT I have come across. It hits on all the points I consider to be important (having worked in HFT for over six years); especially the Techno-Leviathan, trader psyche, and the perception of constant "war". I interviewed at Ronin once, and at the time I was super impressed by the beauty of their offices. Reading this helped me realize what a fucking circus it really is.<p>One facet which always fascinated me was the dispersion of trading ideas, including the code behind algorithms and any sort of research. Successful ideas are constantly being updated, adapted, and often times stolen. Traders are generally hired for the trading strategies they have been exposed to and the potential value within. There are very few individuals who create new and successful ideas. The rest are just copying what they have been exposed to and hoping that it sticks when they throw it all the wall, which eventually runs each successful idea into the ground as the value being captured disappears quickly.<p>Either way, it was a great school for learning how to program and use statistics effectively.<p>As my interviewer at Ronin told me after a I failed the interview (we both knew it): "This is all a game, you just need to learn the rules"
Having zero real knowledge of trading in any fashion at all, recently I've been wondering if there was a niche for "medium-speed trading." I know I can't get close to the exchanges, and I don't have the capital to hire experienced trader/engineers to develop the latest algorithms.<p>Basically, is there a slice of the pie in trading much faster than humans, but much slower than HST?<p>It's an academic exercise, but one I've been toying with.
> "People are routinely worried about harmless things, and routinely completely unworried about incredibly harmful things."<p>God what a quote. I'm stealing this and using it everywhere I can. It basically sums up my entire attitude toward humanity.
> if you'd like to support my ongoing Creative Commons writing, please consider buying me a virtual beer.<p>In the spirit of the article's talk about financialization, I wonder if there's yet a way to buy the author virtual beer options?
It's only going to get worse (or better) depending on how you look at it. So many behavioral factors will be included to shake stops and squeeze shorts at just the right time to make huge profits from the bounce. It's part of the reason as a trader I'm now just chasing Momentum, ignoring most other signals as noise. So much so, I'm building an app that supports discovering these momentum breakouts. In the unlikely event anyone is interested - www.mometic.com
I have some experience with quantitative investment coding and so am frequently asked to apply for HFT jobs.<p>I don't pursue it because I came to regard the practice as unethical.