Scott Patterson (1) (1969–)

A well written fun slightly fictionalised reconstruction of the story of automated trading algorithms being introduced to the US stock market. Tha author does a great job in making what would seem to be an abstract story interesting by reconstructing the characters so that their dynamics and characters drive the plot on.

There are several problems with this book though even though I highly recommend it:
- The story brushes on the details that surround how the algos work and their ecosystem but does not do so systematically enough to present insight and educate a lay audience
- The author touches on the dark pool scenarios several times and in different contexts but does not give these
much context, we are left with many questions about dark pools…
- We never clearly hear that the problem is a lack of regulation despite that ultimately being the most likely author position
- I find it impossible to think that someone would write at this level of detailed reconstruction of history and not include at least a post-script that looks at these issues from a broader perspective and include a note to the edition that talks about current algos

The book feels like half a book, like the qualitative research evidence for a discussion to be made in another half.
… (mais)

When I explained to my wife that high frequency traders were using artificial intelligence to place millions of stock trades in milliseconds, holding stocks on average for no longer than 22 seconds and effectively gaming stock markets around the world, her first reaction was "I had no idea." Her second reaction was "So what chance does the average person buying a stock have?" Computers have made the stock markets unrecognizable to us today. This book is a pretty good primer on how the changes took place and who changed the playing field, like it or not.… (mais)

This was supposed to be a narrative of how algorithmic trading led to the crisis of 2008. But it's not even a narrative, let alone one supported by evidence. It's just a collage of factoids. It might have worked as entertainment if it were engaging and well-written, but it fails at that too. And it's just so incredibly cringey. Some of the passages could have been written by a 20-year old intern at BuzzFeed. Look at this:

"It wasn't the trio of cut-glass chandeliers hung from a gilt-laden ceiling that caught his attention, nor the pair of antique floor-to-ceiling mirrors to his left, nor the guests' svelt Armani suits and gem-studded dresses. Something else in the air made him smile: the smell of money. And the sweet perfume of something he loved even more: pure, unbridled testosterone-fueled competition."

Ten thousand years of human literature. I could have read some Flaubert or Nabokov or some good junk sci-fi. But instead I wasted my time on this garbage.

If you want to get a glimpse into algorithmic trading - its core ideas, its history, its protagonists - go with Gregory Zuckerman's "The Man Who Solved the Market" instead.… (mais)