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Trading at the Speed of Light

How Ultrafast Algorithms Are Transforming Financial Markets
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( 177 ratings, 20 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Trading at the Speed of Light by Donald MacKenzie explores the intricate world of high-frequency trading (HFT) and the technological infrastructure underpinning these rapid financial transactions. It delves into the competitive landscape where milliseconds matter and examines the implications of technology-driven trading on global financial markets. With insights into how technology is reshaping finance, the book provides a deep dive into the complex systems that enable such swift trading activities.
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Format: Hardback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

If you're fascinated by the intersection of technology and finance, this book offers an intriguing exploration of how high-frequency trading works and the engineers behind it. You may enjoy it if you're curious about the way cutting-edge infrastructure shapes the financial markets and alters the speed and nature of trading.

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A remarkable look at how the growth, technology, and politics of high-frequency trading have altered global financial markets

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

A remarkable look at how the growth, technology, and politics of high-frequency trading have altered global financial markets.

In today's financial markets, trading floors on which brokers buy and sell shares face-to-face have increasingly been replaced by lightning-fast electronic systems that use algorithms to execute astounding volumes of transactions. Trading at the Speed of Light tells the story of this epic transformation. Donald MacKenzie shows how in the 1990s, in what were then the disreputable margins of the US financial system, a new approach to tradingβ€”automated high-frequency trading or HFTβ€”began and then spread throughout the world. HFT has brought new efficiency to global trading but has also created an unrelenting race for speed, leading to a systematic, subterranean battle among HFT algorithms.

In HFT, time is measured in nanoseconds (billionths of a second), and in a nanosecond, the fastest possible signalβ€”light in a vacuumβ€”can travel only thirty centimetres, or roughly a foot. That makes HFT exquisitely sensitive to the length and transmission capacity of the cables connecting computer servers to the exchanges' systems and to the location of the microwave towers that carry signals between computer data centres. Drawing from more than 300 interviews with high-frequency traders, the people who supply them with technological and communication capabilities, exchange staff, regulators, and many others, MacKenzie reveals the extraordinary efforts expended to speed up every aspect of trading. He looks at how in some markets big banks have fought off the challenge from HFT firms, and how exchanges sometimes engineer technical systems to favour certain types of algorithms over others.

Focusing on the material, political, and economic characteristics of high-frequency trading, Trading at the Speed of Light offers a unique glimpse into its influence on global finance and where it could lead us in the future.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Trading at the Speed of Light has been acclaimed for its detailed exploration of how technological advancements impact financial markets. Praised by reviewers for illustrating the interplay between the physical and virtual aspects of modern finance, it has received accolades, including a Bronze Medal in Business Technology from the Axiom Business Book Awards.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780691211381

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 25 May 2021

Country: United States

Imprint: Princeton University Press

Illustration: 28 b/w illus. 8 tables

Audience: General / adult, Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Width: 156.0mm

Height: 235.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 304

About the Author

Donald MacKenzie is professor of sociology at the University of Edinburgh. His books include Inventing Accuracy: A Historical Sociology of Nuclear Missile Guidance and An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial Models Shape Markets.

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