High-Frequency Trading: Want the Good News or the Bad?

With the entry of the Chi-X trading platform to rival the Australian Securities Exchange, the technological equivalent of an arms race is underway as high-speed, high-volume algorithmic transactions enable the fastest trader to jump on a trend and profit from price changes. High-frequency trading (HFT) has regulators on red alert, while some investors call it parasitic, many like to blame it for the wild volatility that caused the 2010 Wall Street "flash crash". Market surveillance expert Mike Aitken, a professor at the Australian School of Business, says there's good news and bad news about HFT and an overwhelming lack of evidence. He urges regulators not to rely on hearsay.