Industry trade groups are calling for a regulatory focus on the techniques of high-speed trading rather than the participants, while regulators are hoping to identify the largest speed-trading firms.
On Tuesday, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission convened its technology advisory group, consisting of agency officials and industry members, to discuss definitions. Trade groups made their own proposals.
The stakes over the definition are high. If regulators define it broadly, groups such as investment banks and traditional asset managers who use automated trading programmes that send and cancel bursts of orders to the market coudl be tagged as "high-frequency” traders.
But if it is defined narrowly, some proprietary shops could be subject to harsh rules that put them at a disadvantage.
Sensitivity over how regulators define high-frequency trading (HFT) has already been seen in Europe, where a proposal by the European Commission that automated traders be required to make markets at all times, regardless of market conditions, has raised eyebrows.
Full article (FT subscription needed)
© Financial Times
Key
Hover over the blue highlighted
text to view the acronym meaning
Hover
over these icons for more information
Comments:
No Comments for this Article