No. 198 - High Frequency Trading: an overview

This paper examines high-frequency trading (Hft) systems, which were first developed in the US equity markets but have spread steadily to most asset classes on the main world financial markets. It analyzes the current regulatory and technological structures of the markets and describes the inefficiencies and informational advantages that high-frequency trading systems seek to exploit and the strategies they use. The paper concludes with an assessment of the positive and negative impacts of the presence of this new type of player on the overall quality of the financial markets.