High Frequency Trading of Commodities

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond P. H. Fishe
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
Equity Markets ◽  
Conclusive Evidence ◽  
Commodity Markets ◽  
High Frequency Trading ◽  
Market Quality ◽  
Market Makers ◽  
Speed Advantage ◽  
Open Outcry ◽  
Derivative Markets

Electronic platforms and high frequency traders (HFTs) have changed the nature of trading. Like equity markets, commodity markets have experienced an influx of algorithmic traders and a decline in “pit” or open outcry trading. Regulatory efforts to understand the effects of HFTs and to offer prudent guidelines or new rules are in their infancy. An overall hesitancy exists because academic studies have produced diverse results on liquidity, volatility, and market quality. This survey focuses on high frequency trading research in commodity derivative markets, documenting basic results and extracting inferences when warranted. Evidence indicates that HFTs act as market makers and their speed advantage has lowered transaction costs, generally during normal markets. Although not entirely conclusive, evidence also suggests that HFTs may exacerbate volatility by withdrawing liquidity in times of market stress, such as during “flash” crashes.

The Need for Speed: Does High-Frequency Trading Make or Break Equity Markets?

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 6-23
Author(s):  
Ramu Thiagarajan ◽  
Richard F. Lacaille ◽  
Hanbin Im ◽  
Jingyan Wang
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
Equity Markets ◽  
High Frequency Trading

High-Frequency Trading and Conflict in the Financial Markets

2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 270-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricky Cooper ◽  
Jonathan Seddon ◽  
Ben Van Vliet
Keyword(s):  
Financial Markets ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
High Frequency Trading ◽  
Market Makers ◽  
Market Participants ◽  
Software Vendor ◽  
Traditional Market ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
The Way

The last few decades has seen an ever-increasing growth in the way activities are productized and associated with a financial cost. This phenomenon, termed financialization, spans all areas including government, finance, health and manufacturing. Recent developments within finance over that past decade have radically altered the way trading occurs. This paper analyses high-frequency trading (HFT) as a necessary component of the infrastructure that makes financialization possible. Through interviews with HFT firms, a software vendor, regulators and banks, the effects of HFT on market efficiency, and its impact on costs to long-term investors are explored. This paper contributes to the literature by exploring the conflict that exists between HFT and traditional market makers in today's fragmented markets. This paper argues that society should be unconcerned with this conflict and should instead focus on the effects these participants have on the long-term investors, for whom the markets ultimately exist. In order to facilitate the best outcomes, regulation should be simple, aimed at keeping participants’ behavior stable, and the interactions among them transparent and straightforward. Financialization and HFT are inextricably linked, and society is best served by ensuring that the creative energy of these market participants is directed on providing liquidity and removing inefficiencies.

scholarly journals Regulations and Technology Behind HFT Latency, Batch Auctions and Payments for Order Flow in the US and EU

e-Finanse ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 34-46
Author(s):  
Carlos Jorge Lenczewski Martins
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
Great Part ◽  
High Frequency Trading ◽  
Order Flow ◽  
Electronic Trading ◽  
Inside Information ◽  
Wholesale Market ◽  
Market Makers ◽  
The Us ◽  
Clock Synchronisation

AbstractSince the appearance of high-frequency trading in the 1990s, speed has become one of the key issues in trading and with it, the controversy around High-Frequency Trading. In recent years, there have been many discussions and analyses of how high-frequency trading may affect the financial market – but still without any clear conclusions. Leaving these opinions behind, many adjustments have already been made in the US and Europe - both to regulations and market rules, impacting not only High-Frequency Trading but general electronic trading as well. These rules and regulations are the result of technological developments in electronic trading and more specifically, High-Frequency Trading and the practice of Payments for Order Flow. The question remains as to how deep regulations should go, especially in the case of HFT which can be severely affected by harsh regulatory requirements or procedures. Because two of the most important issues in HFT are time and information, some of the rules and regulations affect aspects such as not only what type of information and how it should be gathered, but also clock synchronisation and time-stamp granularity. Another issue that may be considered controversial in the field of HFT (although it is not a practice limited to HFT) is Payment For Order Flows. Under this mechanism, wholesale market makers pay brokers for their client’s order flow – a practice that performed in great amounts and at high speeds may give a considerable level of “inside” information. Regulations, especially from ESMA (MiFID II). try in great part to thus mitigate the practice of Payments For Order Flows.The aim of this paper is to present technological advancements in the field of trading communications used, not only by HFT firms, but also by exchanges. Additionally, the objective is to underline some challenges regarding regulatory changes that try to adapt to the current level of technology – for example, those related to clock synchronisation and data processing. One last issue brought forward is the possibility of converting markets from continuous-time auctions to discrete-time auctions - a concept that is aimed at liquidating the speed advantage and competition only to price level and hence, eliminating HFT advantages.

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