Flash orders, we hardly knew ye. In just two weeks, these trades have exploded into public consciousness and then been served a likely death sentence by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Used in perhaps 2 per cent of US equity trading, investors can have their order “flashed” to a group of traders a fraction of a second before the broader market; the aim is to reduce trading costs. The SEC is also set to examine “dark pools”, electronic trading venues that do not publicly display quotes, and high frequency trading (HFT). The UK's securities watchdog is doing the same.
闪电指令(flash orders)，曾经我们对你几乎一无所知。短短两周，这种交易便迅速引起了公众关注，然后被美国证券交易委员会(SEC)迅速宣判了死刑。这种指令应用于大约2%的美国证券交易，可以先于公开市场前几分之一秒，将投资者的指令“闪电”般地发送给一组交易员；其目的是降低交易成本。证交会还将审查“资金暗池”（dark pools，即不公开显示报价的电子交易）和高频交易(HFT)。英国监管机构也在采取同样的举措。