What Michael Lewis' Flash Boys Gets Wrong about HFT at The Speed Traders Workshop

2!" Singapore
Edgar Perez, former McKinsey and IBM consultant, is a global expert, author of The Speed
Traders, Knightmare on all Street, and the course director of The Speed Traders or!shop "#$%
Singapore, &'o( Ban!s, 'edge and Mutual )unds and Bro!ers Battle Mar!ets *+I,,E-* by all
Street*s *)lash Boys*, 'igh.fre/uency Trading, Exchanges and -ar! Pools&
#ew $ork% #$% &ugust 2% 2!" '' Michael Lewis has spent quite a bit of time promoting his book
about high-frequency trading (HFT) !n the morning after its release" he went on #$%&s Today
show $y midday he was on %#$%" taking in part in a battle royal o'er the merits of HFT with key
players Lewis&s T( publicity tour started big with an appearance on )* Minutes
Lewis&s book" Flash $oys" has dri'en a huge amount of attention toward the topic of high frequency
trading" and it has rekindled some of basic arguments o'er its impact on markets and in'estors The
new book is typical Lewis" as $loomberg&s Matthew +hillips said ,!t&s a page-turner that reads like
a no'el and succeeds in making comple- topics accessible to non-e-perts $y taking seemingly
disparate de'elopments.the secreti'e race to build underground" super-fast fiber optic cables" the
/**0 arrest of a 1oldman 2achs computer programmer.Lewis stitches together a compelling"
character-dri'en narrati'e to walk readers through the immense changes the financial markets ha'e
undergone o'er the past decade3
Howe'er" is the book is right about HFT and its impact on 4merican in'estors5 The 2peed Traders
6orkshop /*78 2ingapore" 9How $anks" Hedge and Mutual Funds and $rokers $attle Markets
:;!11<=: by 6all 2treet:s :Flash $oys:" High-frequency Trading" <-changes and =ark +ools9
(http>??thespeedtradersworkshopcom)" the first and most comprehensi'e initiation to the world of
high-frequency trading" will open the door to the secreti'e world of computeri@ed low-latency
trading" the most contro'ersial form of in'esting todayA in the name of protecting the algorithms
they ha'e spent so much time perfecting" speed traders almost ne'er talk to the press and try to
disclose as little as possible about how they operate Further information about this workshop can
be found at http>??thespeedtradersworkshopcom
The 2peed Traders 6orkshop /*78 2ingapore co'ers the latest research currently a'ailable and
re'eals how high-frequency trading players are operating in global markets and dri'ing the
de'elopment of electronic trading at breakneck speeds from the B2 and <urope to Capan" !ndia"
and $ra@il The ,flash crash3" the suspended $4T2 !+D" the botched Facebook !+D" Enight
%apital:s trading malfunction and #42=4F:s Flash Free@e are Gust a few of the milestones in the
history of high-frequency trading that will be dissected with participants
Enightmare on 6all 2treet" the fascinating story of Enight %apital put together by course director
<dgar +ere@" was the most fa'orably re'iewed Eindle edition book on 4ma@on in /*7H" with an
a'erage rating of I out of fi'e stars Enight %apital" founded by Eenneth +asternak and 6alter
;aquet in 700I" had seen its fortunes change as B2 regulators made a series of changes in the
structure of financial markets and computers were progressi'ely e-panding their share of trading
The Flash %rash" the infamous 7"*** point drop of the =C!4 on May )" /*7* (the largest one-day
point decline in history)" illustrated how market structure problems could almost instantaneously
cascade from one market participant to the rest
Mr +ere@ is widely regarded as the preeminent global e-pert and speaker in the speciali@ed areas of
algorithmic and high-frequency trading He is also author of The 2peed Traders" 4n !nsider&s Look
at the #ew High-Frequency Trading +henomenon That is Transforming the !n'esting 6orld"
published in <nglish" %hinese and $ahasa !ndonesia He contributes to The #ew Jork Times"
BltraHighFrequencyTradingcom and %hina&s !nternational Finance #ews and 2ina Finance
(ontact)
Culia +etro'a
*night+are on Wall Street
#ew Jork" #J
K7-878-H)L-M)L*
infoNknightmareonwallstreetcom
http>??wwwknightmareonwallstreetcom