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UK Citizen in Jail for Causing "Flash-Crash", or Just High-Frequency Trading?

posted by n1 on Sunday May 24 2015, @02:11PM   Printer-friendly
from the justice-is-blind dept.

Whoever writes:

Nainder Sarao sits in jail because he cannot raise the £5M bail that is required for his release. He has apparently made millions while living in his parents' basement, but doesn't have access to the money because his accounts have been frozen. What is claimed by US authorities is that "... Mr Sarao placed "spoof" trades in E-Mini S&P derivatives in a bid to push the market in his favour. The orders would be placed and withdrawn in rapid succession using a customised computer programme, they allege", which sounds a lot like high-frequency trading. Perhaps his real crime was to copy the techniques of wealthy high-speed traders?

 
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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by n1 on Sunday May 24 2015, @03:49PM

    by n1 (993) on Sunday May 24 2015, @03:49PM (#187175) Journal

    Just to add to my previous comment:

    Tim Worstall [forbes.com] says:

    The HFT guys are making money, yes indeed they are. But they’re making money in much smaller sums than the general investors in aggregate are saving through the collapse in spreads as a result of the extra liquidity. HFT, at least in normal market conditions, benefits the small investor most certainly, not costs her.

    Nainder Sarao doing it however created instability and the supposed 'flash-crash'. I really don't think there's much more to it than if you're a TBTF or associated appropriately, it's business as usual. For the rest of us it would be 'fraudulently manipulating the markets'.

    ZeroHedge has reported quite well on the hypocrisy of this situation after the arrest of Nainder Sarao.

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-04-24/dear-cftc-here-todays-illegal-sp-500-spoofing [zerohedge.com]
    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-04-22/dear-cftc-market-manipulating-spoofing-taking-place-e-mini-just-today [zerohedge.com]
    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-04-28/dear-cftc-here-todays-illegal-spoofing-gold-futures [zerohedge.com]

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  • (Score: 2) by darkfeline on Monday May 25 2015, @06:24PM

    by darkfeline (1030) on Monday May 25 2015, @06:24PM (#187679) Homepage

    >The HFT guys are making money, yes indeed they are. But they’re making money in much smaller sums than the general investors in aggregate are saving through the collapse in spreads as a result of the extra liquidity. HFT, at least in normal market conditions, benefits the small investor most certainly, not costs her.

    What kind of reality distortion field do you need to believe this? Money goes into the stock market, money comes out of the stock market. If I put in $5 and take out $10, those extra $5 dollars came out of someone else's pocket. If the big investors are making money, that money is coming out of small investors' pockets.

    God knows we all of us have so much money that it's burning holes in our pockets, praise Wall Street for helping us out!

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