Credit Suisse's Dan Mathisson Doesn't Use Flashed Orders Except When He Does
by Zero Hedge - August 3rd, 2009 4:04 pm
Courtesy of Tyler Durden
A new article by Traders Magazine goes on to describe in exquisite detail how brokerages apparently have not only never used Flashed orders, but run like the plague any time the topic is even breached.
Quote Greg Tusar, head of U.S. electronic transaction at GSEC:
"We don’t use them in the execution of client orders," Tusar said. "But we believe it should be a matter of choice--that clients should have access to them if they choose to. They should be available on an opt-in basis, client by client."
Greg, while we have your attention, can you also elaborate on this little disclosure taken directly from your March 31, 2008 Street Smart Research Piece:
Not to make a fine point out of it, but isn’t it a little presumptuous to say you don’t Flash when your entire Sigma X Dark Pool is based on Flashing (granted Goldman is the only beneficiary of the Flashed order data)? If we are not understanding this correctly, please feel free to enlighten us on how we may have misunderstood this: SigmaX@zerohedge.com
Other professionals who chime in include none other than Jatin Suryawanshi, head of global quant strategies at Jefferies & Company:
"Flash orders have the potential to cause information leakage. It’s information that was not available on a data feed that’s now available on a data feed." He added that the use of flash orders, if it’s not done purposefully to aggressively take liquidity, may fly in the face of a broker’s best-execution duties.
Well, at least one insider is happy to acknowledge the potential abuse of Flash. Uhm, why did it take all you guys years before coming forward with this knowledge? Does some blog have to disclose all your dirty laundry before you admit that a vast majority of your business models are based on "information leakage?" But then again Jatin’s honesty may be attributed to his recent distraction, stemming from the escalating lawsuit with UBS alleging serious quant espionage. And here we were thinking that only Sergey Aleynikov is in trouble.
Which bring us to Dan Mathisson, head of Advanced Execution Services at Credit Suisse.
"We don’t flash," said Dan Mathisson, head of the Advanced Execution Services group at Credit Suisse. "The whole reason we exist is to try to execute [institutional
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Letter To Senator Charles Schumer – Ban Goldman’s SIGMA X Dark Pool
by Zero Hedge - July 29th, 2009 9:27 pm
Letter To Senator Charles Schumer – Ban Goldman’s SIGMA X Dark Pool
Courtesy of Tyler Durden
Dear Senator Schumer,
You recently approached SEC head Mary Schapiro with some very valid concerns about Flash trading, and the potential for investor abuse by advance looks to select market participants ahead of the general order pool. Your crusade was subsequently enjoined by such equity market luminaries as Robert Greifeld, president and CEO of the Nasdaq Stock Market, who had this to say regarding not just Flash trades in particular, but numerous other components of market topology, whose sole purpose is to obfuscate natural order flow and to provide loopholes for dominant market players to extract inefficiencies (i.e., scalp regular investors) arising from established and SEC-endorsed mechanisms of efficient market circumvention:
"Flash orders, which are a fundamental part of high-frequency trading, are but one symptom of the current evolving market structure. Nasdaq OMX is concerned that the securities industry appears willing to accept more and more ‘darkness’ and limits on the availability of order information. Instead, the policy goal should be clear: to eliminate any order types or market structure policies that do not contribute to public price formation and market transparency.”"The industry has a unique opportunity at this time to take a hard look at dark order types and the underlying market structure issues that do not support public price information.”
Senator Schumer, while Zero Hedge applauds your initiative, the truth is that the wrongdoing in the context of potential investor market abuse runs far deeper and is much more pervasive than you realize. And while one can highlight the merits of the Op-Ed published in the New York Times earlier by quant titan Paul Wilmott entitled "Hurrying Into The Next Panic" (a recommended read for you and your staff), which notes numerous frightening implications brought about by the domination of Hiqh Frequency Trading, let us stick within the context of advance looks, which is at the basis of your letter seeking the ban of Flash-like behavior.
Zero Hedge would like to highlight that while your letter to Mary Schapiro indicated your concern with such market actors as DirectEdge, BATS and Nasdaq, the truth is there are substantially larger and more dangerous "fish" on which you should focus your attention.
As a primary example, I would like to refer you…
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