A rich genius

最近在悉尼先驱晨报网站上看到一篇很有趣的文章，名为＂The fastest guns in the market＂，链接如下：http://www.smh.com.au/business/the-fastest-guns-in-the-market-20091105-i0au.html

尽管对文章提到事件背后的玄机没参透多少，还是对文中提到的很多信息充满兴趣。

 这位在澳洲出生看样子象东南亚人后裔的美籍天才，32岁的Dinesh ＂Danny＂Bhandari 成为 ＂HIGH TRADER＂中的杰出代表，引起了美国stock market官员及各大媒体如纽约时报，华尔街日报的关注，澳洲人也在谈论他。

 ２００５年他被Optiver公司开除，随后他的一些同事追随他到他成立的公司来，有趣的是，公司名为FTD（意为F＊ the  DUTCH，Optiver公司是DUTCH－Based，也许这不是巧合），更有趣的是，同事们带来一些注册名为Begg, Borrow, Steal, Impropriety Unlimited,  Rottengarabald的投资者，这些极富有才气的名头似乎已暗含tricks。

 他们是怎么快速地空手套白狼的呢？Optiver颇有不满地说，Bhandari and his colleagues are profiting from software that belongs to their former employer…。据说，他们用基于某秘密算法的象一级方程式赛车那么快的高能计算机程序（high-powered computer programs like F1 - Formula One）在各种市场中做海量快速交易也包括快速取消交易。文中提到（为了不歪曲文章原意，只列原文在此:
“They set to work, seeking to profit on tiny price differences by buying and selling shares, futures, bonds, derivatives and options, trading in the hundreds of millions of dollars per day.”

 “High-frequency traders test prices by issuing buy or sell orders that can be withdrawn in milliseconds, giving traders an idea of the market's willingness to trade at those prices.”

“They can also earn tiny profits millions of times over from rebates provided by exchanges for being a market maker, or by being willing to buy and sell when there is a shortage of other traders.”

''Powerful algorithms - 'algos', in industry parlance - execute millions of orders a second and scan dozens of public and private marketplaces simultaneously,''

''They can spot trends before other investors can blink, changing orders and strategies within milliseconds.''

看起来是他们的软件技术有两大优势，一是比对手提前输出或反应几十毫秒，抢得先机或误导市场，二是海量交易同时进行，快速地赚小钱。

对此，有人预见说，对投资者来说，超高能计算机仅有硬件是不够的，竞争将是''technological arms race''. ''It's become a technological arms race, and what separates winners and losers is how fast they can move.''

“US sharemarket officials and Congress are mulling bans on some of their tricks. And it is so profitable, the big banks are using it. The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal have devoted pages to the dark arts of  ‘high-intensity’ and ‘low-latency’ trading and the world of ‘dark pools’.. ”.真是有趣，银行在用这些TRICKS也不是一天两天了，怎么才想起来BAN？为什么一个平民天才引起轩然大波？说什么“…the dice are loaded against the average investor”, 上帝都不掷DICE，从来都是弱肉强食。

ANYWAY，我赞成规范。＂technology is outpacing regulatory attempts to keep a level playing field and fair market＂毕竟是不好的。

读完这篇文章感触很深，天才无论是天使还是魔鬼，都是对社会有推动作用的。

再说点题外话，前段时间读了文学城上的一篇文章，说富人会进化成另一物种，因为他们的财富给他们带来很多特权，基因改良（强强联合，也许还加上基因工程）和教育能极大地使他们越来越优秀，越来越远离其它基因库。这至少充分证明了，永远不会有平均，但这是不公平里的公平。