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The Speed Traders. Edgar Perez.  A guest post from  Nora McCallum of Scotia McLeod.  2011. ISBN 978-0071768283

Reg, thanks for passing along “The Speed Traders” by Edgar Perez.  I enjoyed reading this book. Most of the research to date demonstrates that HFT’s (and hedge fund managers for that matter) can have a period of very high success but ultimately fail. The extinction ratio for this investors class is very high. I think that the book gives a clear and concise overview of the (short) history and current role that High Frequency Trading plays in the capital markets. Given that speed is of the essence with this tool, I am not sure how much more time can be shaved off the technology; it will be very interesting to see how these trading techniques continue to develop and influence the global capital markets.

Related articles

• Crapshoot Investing: How Tech-Savvy Traders and Clueless Regulators Turned the Stock Market into a Casino (ritholtz.com)
• The Future and Challenges for High-Speed Trading at High-Frequency Trading Leaders Forum 2011 (your-story.org)
• The future is all about cross-asset arbitrage (ftalphaville.ft.com)