Instead, brokers began to argue over bandwidth and internet speed leading to an opening for all those computer geeks out there to devise a system that could out-sprint all other systems to the finish line. Basically, when Wall Street decided to stop trading physically opting instead to do their trading online it not only opened up the ability to trade more with the wider world but they could do it at a quicker pace from the comfort of an office chair. Sergey Aleynikov was a computer programmer, not a trader but was employed by Goldman Sachs to improve the computer systems for what is known as the HFT team ( High-Frequency Trading). It seems it is not just those on the outside that don’t understand the modern-day trading systems those on the inside also seem to lack the knowledge, which in itself is a very worrying thought. The idea behind Flash Boys isn’t to shed light on this subject but rather highlight that the world of stocks and shares is far more complicated than we could ever imagine. Wall Street is one of those places that we all hear a lot about but in all honesty very few of us understand much about what goes on behind their glass-fronted office buildings. The question, therefore, had to be raised, if it could manipulate the markets, what was Goldman Sachs using the program for? Did they have an unfair advantage? Apparently, this program was capable of manipulating the markets. This computer code, if got into the wrong hands, would supposedly have had drastic results for the stock market. Back in 2009 a Russian computer programmer, Sergey Aleynikov, was arrested by the FBI for stealing a computer code from Goldman Sachs.
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