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4.03 AVERAGE
4.03 AVERAGE
informative
reflective
fast-paced
A great read explaining a complex practice. I do not buy the criticism of the book, which basically boils down to "everyone has always tried to game the system on Wall Street, and investors are far more ripped off by brokerage fees than any HFTs." That doesn't make the practice any less unseemly to the outsider, it is just a very modern example of how financial types can make billions without adding a cent of value to the economy at large, just by exploiting informational access.
An interesting, fascinating, inspiring and terrifying read. In "Flash Boys", Michael Lewis narrates the true story about US stock markets being corrupted by high frequency traders who use microseconds in black pools in stock markets to make big money. While explaining in "normal people" language how the corruption goes about, Lewis describes the terrible practices in financial markets and how no one is there to stop them. Because those who know about it, earn on it, and those who are losing on it, don't know about it. But this was before a group of more critical, curious and righteous people who, instead of jumping on the wagon to earn money, decided to fight the system. Leaving million dollar Wall street jobs, they decide to do their own - right - thing for monetary peanuts. A thrilling story that leaves you both disgusted (due to the terrible amounts of money that are being earned that way) and enlightened (due to the willingness to fight of Brad and his colleagues).
Even though the subject of financial markets can be very boring and very complex to most of society, Lewis manages to describe all the processes in a very comprehensible way. I found the book thrilling and exciting and just wanted to keep on reading. An excellent way for us to get insight in a market otherwise very unknown. You just have to love the characters in the book, their degree of weirdness or nerdness, and their perseverance.If anything, the book was maybe a little too long and the epilogue not worth reading, but all in all a wonderful read for anyone with or without the slightest interest in stocks and financials.
Even though the subject of financial markets can be very boring and very complex to most of society, Lewis manages to describe all the processes in a very comprehensible way. I found the book thrilling and exciting and just wanted to keep on reading. An excellent way for us to get insight in a market otherwise very unknown. You just have to love the characters in the book, their degree of weirdness or nerdness, and their perseverance.If anything, the book was maybe a little too long and the epilogue not worth reading, but all in all a wonderful read for anyone with or without the slightest interest in stocks and financials.
You'll never want to invest in the stock market again, but if you must, route through IEX.
Impressive in that Lewis manages to make extraordinarily complex technical speak somewhat understandable (as much as any layperson could understand), by focusing on the developed characters he followed along in order to tell this story.
I'd read anything that Michael Lewis writes. He has such a way of translating really large, complex issues into something that's easily understandable and digestible. In this book, he tackles high frequency trading and how the stock market is susceptible to corruption and gaming that hurts small investors. Brad Katsuyama was a trader at RBC who stumbled upon the issue of "front running" during his daily work. He begins to dig and what he finds shocks him. But he takes it one step further and not only calls it out, but creates a whole new stock exchange that's built in such a way to eliminate front running, driving out high frequency traders, that ultimately creates a fair trading ground for all traders.
I feel like I say this about all of Lewis' books, but they read like fiction. This one was the same and didn't disappoint!
I feel like I say this about all of Lewis' books, but they read like fiction. This one was the same and didn't disappoint!
As with most of Michael's books this is a fun read. Michael researches his subjects very well and tells a unique story that he found in his research. This unique story of the creation of IEX and the evolution of HFT is one part of the larger picture... the $300k salary view if you will.
Highly recommended for any retail investors out there.
Highly recommended for any retail investors out there.
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
Informative and enjoyable, perhaps a bit overly dramatic and dire. For a long term investor like myself, I suppose I can live with a 1 penny difference in share price. But if I were on Wall Street I'd want something done about this. Hard to believe that the SEC receives almost no mention in this book. No cynical remarks about do-nothing politicians or any kind of effort to raise public awareness. If one were so inclined to be cynical, you could look at the protagonists in a bad light for capitalizing on what they discover. The book paints them as heroes fighting to move one-step-ahead of the flash traders - only to see them failed at the end when a HFT firm opens a microwave line to best them. The cat-and-mouse game continues. But that philosophy aside, I found the book well written and well researched. The people (I shouldn't call them characters!) are captivating - especially the Russian characters. The entanglement of technology and markets is a great topic. This book earns a recommendation.
Our new market is one where a matter of milliseconds can make ordinary investors subject to predators. Well-written read about a group of people dedicated to restoring fairness to an unfair market place. For someone without much experience with the financial world, this was a great introduction to what is high frequency trading and how the electronic stock market works.