Navigating Today’s Treacherous Markets

Book excerpt: It’s May 6, 2010 and in New York it’s 2:40 p.m. You switch to your favorite business channel, wherever you may be in the world, and immediately notice something very unusual going on. Pandemonium comes to mind, and then you see why: The Dow is down almost 1000 points! As you stare at the displayed charts thinking what the hell might be causing this, the major indices almost miraculously recover within minutes. This event, now known as the Flash Crash, changed your perception of the financial markets forever. High Frequency Trading, something you had never heard of, is blamed for the debacle. You listen intently as one expert after another tells you that HFT is the “little guy’s” worst enemy. The machines, the goddamn machines are ruining the markets, you become convinced. Then you hear about Hedge Funds being involved in illegal insider trading, about central banks meddling in the markets, and you throw up your hands in exasperation. Before you decide to give up on the markets, and even if you already have, read this book to separate the facts from the hype. Learn that while there is “bad” HFT, which you must guard against, there is also “good” HFT. On balance, HFT is great for retail investors contrary to the media blitz, and insider trading may become less of an issue in the future. The markets may be treacherous but they are navigable.