“Having observed what high-frequency trading has done to U.S. markets, foreign governments are doing what American officials have avoided: regulate.
In traditional stock trading, a buyer, through a broker, purchases shares in a stock with the hope that over time they will grow in value. In high-frequency trading, institutional investors use computerized programs to buy stocks and then sell them within hours, minutes or even seconds, taking advantage of slight fluctuations in value.
On May 6, 2010, U.S. markets were disrupted by a “flash crash” that sent the Dow Jones average plummeting more than 600 points in a matter of minutes, before coming back again almost as quickly. On August 1 of this year, The Knight Capital Group lost $440 million in 45 minutes as a result of a computer glitch and sent the trading firm to the brink of bankruptcy.”
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