While working on this column I chanced on a link to an article on the BBC web site that asked Would you let a robot invest your hard-earned cash? The article dealt with the benefits and drawbacks of algorithmic trading, and noted that:
Companies like New Jersey-based Tradeworx are erecting line-of-site networks of microwave relays, involving towers interspersed every 30 miles or so.I have no doubt that the people who write television detective programs are constantly reviewing news sites to get ideas for plots that may seem a bit off the wall but can actually be well grounded in reality. This one is a good case in point.
This network will convey financial information from Chicago - where financial products called futures are traded - to the New York Stock Exchange 2.3 milliseconds faster than data sent over existing fibre-optic cables.
This tiny time saving is enough to give a trader an advantage in the hyper-fast world of "flash trading" - the controversial phenomenon exposed in Michael Lewis' best-selling book, Flash Boys.