High Frequency Trading, International Markets, and Regulation

In a recent interview with 60 Minutes (2014), prominent author Michael Lewis explained, “the United States stock market, the most iconic market in global capitalism, is rigged.” Millions of unregulated transactions occur in fractions of a second on a daily basis, avoiding documentation. Several key players are paying hundreds of millions of dollars to gain unfair advantages at the expense of traditional game players. High frequency trading (HFT) has been publicly scrutinized for its adverse effects to the domestic market place. Nowadays, it is not uncommon to find an article about an investigation due to high frequency traders colluding and sharing private information in major news publications. This fascinating, evolutionary topic has gained mass attention, yet received limited regulation from authorities in charge of maintaining a fair market environment. With an ever-changing technological landscape, it is paramount to maintain the integrity upon which the stock exchanges and extended marketplaces were founded