The South African Civil Society Information Service

The Secretive and Exploitative World of High Frequency Trading

17 Jan 2014

Dutch filmmaker Marije Meerman has produced a trilogy of films examining the secretive and exploitative world of high frequency trading. “Super-quick computers and advanced mathematical formulas have largely taken over trading on the financial markets from human beings”. Experts explain that algorithms are now the drivers of a system so complex that humans fail to comprehend it. “Algorithms secretly lie in waiting for the moment that your pension money gets on the market”. They are the new invisible hand of the market. In the long-awaited final episode of Meerman's trilogy, The Wall Street Code, we learn that the rise of these machines poses a serious threat to society.

Watch the other documentaries in this series: Quants: The Alchemists of Wall Street and Money & Speed: Inside the Black Box.

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Editor’s Note: To dig deeper into this issue, you might be interested in visiting Heim Bodek’s website. Bodek, who is featured in Meerman’s documentary, is on a crusade to expose the dangers of high frequency trading.

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You can find this page online at http://sacsis.org.za/site/article/1887.