High Freq - Bot-Trading

[jordan.dev]

Please, no.  HFT simply undermines how markets operate, increasing trade volumes yet doing nothing to increase liquidity.  HFT presents a new barrier to entry and exists purely to skim money.

The article above says it best, "high frequency trading has nothing to do with the efficient allocation of capital, and everything to do with socially-useless proprietary trading that runs counter to the interests of long-term investors".

I disagree, I think that the future of trading Bitcoin is the same as trading any other instrument in the world today.

It's just a matter of implementation, and it's coming.

Gripe about it's "Lack of efficiently allocating capitol" all you want. I don't believe that HFT/MFT/Algo-trading will avoid cryto-currencies. It's just that the infrastructure doesn't exist yet for the real players to plug-in.

[daybyter]

So are you interested in such technology? Interested in helping to create the required infrastructure?

[runam0k]

Gripe about it's "Lack of efficiently allocating capitol" all you want. I don't believe that HFT/MFT/Algo-trading will avoid cryto-currencies. It's just that the infrastructure doesn't exist yet for the real players to plug-in.

I didn't say it wouldn't happen.  I'm just saying it's shit and bitcoin would be better off without it / careful what you wish for.  HFT will be pure profit extraction by banks and funds from people who are actually interested in holding or trading bitcoin denominated stock, nothing more.

[joesmoe2012]

Please, no.  HFT simply undermines how markets operate, increasing trade volumes yet doing nothing to increase liquidity.  HFT presents a new barrier to entry and exists purely to skim money.

This is fantastic btw - an animation of 1/2 a second of real world
trading activity in Johnson & Johnson stock - mind blown:
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/05/ian-fraser-the-beauty-and-insanity-of-hft.html

What happened to the days where (most) market participants would actually look at the company, the management, the business plan, etc, and actually place a value on shares.

The article above says it best, "high frequency trading has nothing to do with the efficient allocation of capital, and everything to do with socially-useless proprietary trading that runs counter to the interests of long-term investors".

"Watch High-Frequency Traders (HFT) at the millisecond level jam thousands of quotes in the stock of Johnson and Johnson (JNJ) through our financial networks on May 2, 2013. Video shows 1/2 second of time. If any of the connections are not running perfectly, High Frequency Traders can profit from the price discrepancies that result. There is no economic justification for this abusive behavior.
Read more at http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/05/ian-fraser-the-beauty-and-insanity-of-hft.html#zEoMZVoX1Rmv95TX.99 "

@mtgox

[monsterer]

What happened to the days where (most) market participants would actually look at the company, the management, the business plan, etc, and actually place a value on shares.

Those are long term traders. HFT is intra-day trading.

[jordan.dev]

So are you interested in such technology? Interested in helping to create the required infrastructure?

Hell yeah! Lets do it... I make a market right now on a 15 second latency because, well, most exchanges have to spend their research and development dollars on legal compliance rather than technology...

[jordan.dev]

I didn't say it wouldn't happen.  I'm just saying it's shit and bitcoin would be better off without it / careful what you wish for.  HFT will be pure profit extraction by banks and funds from people who are actually interested in holding or trading bitcoin denominated stock, nothing more.

Yes, but that's a double negative, saying we'd be better off without something that is inevitable is like saying, "well we'd be better off if we all lived forever..."

Extracting profit by performing a service (in this case sub-millisecond trading) for the owners of the funds / banks isn't only important, I'd say it's perfectly moral. So long as your not cheating, and everyone knows the rules.

People attack HFT, even legal HFT as being "immoral" or "illegal" because they don't understand it, so I guess I'm just overly sensitive since I'm a big fan of the science.

Physicists invented/discovered nuclear weapons, we don't blame them for nuclear war.

[JohnDow1968]

There are exchanges with lots of currency pairs. No need to move money from one exchange to another.

Even I understand that. But still the fees are killing that right. Might this also be the reason why it's so hard to get FIAT in/out of lets say.... MtGox?

[runam0k]

Extracting profit by performing a service (in this case sub-millisecond trading) for the owners of the funds / banks isn't only important, I'd say it's perfectly moral. So long as your not cheating, and everyone knows the rules.

Yes, but patently not important to bitcoin or the bitcoin denominated market. It's potentially detrimental, in fact, to bitcoin and the bitcoin denominated market.

The science is impressive, of course, but that's not a reason to advocate the use of it here.

Obviously if bitcoin gains significant traction and the attention of big funds and banks, HFT (and other financial wizardry) in the bitcoin denominated market is inevitable (unless, perhaps, HFT is banned or otherwise hobbled in the real world - not totally beyond the pale if you consider the market dips and crashes already attributed to HFT).

[jordan.dev]

The science is impressive, of course, but that's not a reason to advocate the use of it here.

I believe the opposite, I think their future are inextricably linked. Bitcoin is onto-itself a form of financial wizardry.

I think the proof-of-work block chain technology, Bitcoin and it's components have a real future as part of the fabric of HFT.

The underlying assumption being, at least for me, that the adoption of Bitcoin as a technology adapted for parts of HFT that traditional financial tech aren't well suited for.

See George Kledaras, http://www.advancedtrading.com/can-bitcoin-solve-wall-streets-soft-doll/240157515, disclaimer, I've spoken at length with Mr. Kledaras about these types of problems.