A rich genius

最近在悉尼先驅晨報網站上看到一篇很有趣的文章，名為＂The fastest guns in the market＂，鏈接如下：http://www.smh.com.au/business/the-fastest-guns-in-the-market-20091105-i0au.html

盡管對文章提到事件背後的玄機沒參透多少，還是對文中提到的很多信息充滿興趣。

 這位在澳洲出生看樣子象東南亞人後裔的美籍天才，32歲的Dinesh ＂Danny＂Bhandari 成為 ＂HIGH TRADER＂中的傑出代表，引起了美國stock market官員及各大媒體如紐約時報，華爾街日報的關注，澳洲人也在談論他。

 ２００５年他被Optiver公司開除，隨後他的一些同事追隨他到他成立的公司來，有趣的是，公司名為FTD（意為F＊ the  DUTCH，Optiver公司是DUTCH－Based，也許這不是巧合），更有趣的是，同事們帶來一些注冊名為Begg, Borrow, Steal, Impropriety Unlimited,  Rottengarabald的投資者，這些極富有才氣的名頭似乎已暗含tricks。

 他們是怎麽快速地空手套白狼的呢？Optiver頗有不滿地說，Bhandari and his colleagues are profiting from software that belongs to their former employer…。據說，他們用基於某秘密算法的象一級方程式賽車那麽快的高能計算機程序（high-powered computer programs like F1 - Formula One）在各種市場中做海量快速交易也包括快速取消交易。文中提到（為了不歪曲文章原意，隻列原文在此:
“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 “High-frequency traders test prices by issuing buy or sell orders that can be withdrawn in milliseconds, giving traders an idea of the market's willingness to trade at those prices.”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.''

看起來是他們的軟件技術有兩大優勢，一是比對手提前輸出或反應幾十毫秒，搶得先機或誤導市場，二是海量交易同時進行，快速地賺小錢。

對此，有人預見說，對投資者來說，超高能計算機僅有硬件是不夠的，競爭將是''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，銀行在用這些TRICKS也不是一天兩天了，怎麽才想起來BAN？為什麽一個平民天才引起軒然大波？說什麽“…the dice are loaded against the average investor”, 上帝都不擲DICE，從來都是弱肉強食。

ANYWAY，我讚成規範。＂technology is outpacing regulatory attempts to keep a level playing field and fair market＂畢竟是不好的。

讀完這篇文章感觸很深，天才無論是天使還是魔鬼，都是對社會有推動作用的。

再說點題外話，前段時間讀了文學城上的一篇文章，說富人會進化成另一物種，因為他們的財富給他們帶來很多特權，基因改良（強強聯合，也許還加上基因工程）和教育能極大地使他們越來越優秀，越來越遠離其它基因庫。這至少充分證明了，永遠不會有平均，但這是不公平裏的公平。