You successfully added to your cart! You can either continue shopping, or checkout now if you'd like.
Note: If you'd like to continue shopping, you can always access your cart from the icon at the upper-right of every page.
Let’s put it in terms that a horse-and-buggy person can understand.
You live in Bethlehem and hear about a block of stock that you want to buy at the Trading desk in Jerusalem. So you fill out an order and send it by your fastest runner. Meanwhile, a spy sees the order as the runner leaves your house, and he has a servant that can run faster than your servant.
The second, faster runner then passes the first, slower runner, gets to Jerusalem first, and buys the block of stock that you were hoping to purchase. So when the slower runner gets there, the stock was purchased ahead of you, and now it is for sale at a higher price. Yes, you can still buy it, but someone else makes a quick profit at your expense.
This is what is happening today with High Frequency Trading. The only difference is that we no longer send out runners. We do it by cable, but huge computers detect orders for stock and send out a faster signal (by milli-seconds), placing a duplicate order before your signal arrives. The stock order is bought out from under you, and then resold to you in a fraction of a second at a higher price.
Someone figured out the rigging game, and 60 Minutes has exposed it in this 15-minute segment. This is huge. Babylon’s stock-rigging game is now public knowledge. Those who work in darkness can’t stand the light. Be sure to watch the first video in this article.