No thank you, Box.
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@El_Heffe said:
If you are not engaged in HFT then there is no value.
The standard excuse for HFT is that the aggregate effect is to reduce the spread between buy and sell offer prices, which according to the efficient market hypothesis will tend to make the price of tradeables converge on their true value. Personally I think that's bollocks but I have no actual science with which to back that opinion, merely the observation that having the guys with the fastest computers hoover up all the inefficiency and turn it into money doesn't make it go away, just obscures it a little.
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@locallunatic said:
@joe.edwards said:
@Flash Boys said:
...
So it's good? I'm (slowly) working through the other recent highly praised econ book (that would be Capital in the 21st Century); but nothing in it seems to rate the praise that it's been getting so far as the concepts that it is going on about are pretty simple (though comparing theory to actuality is less common that it should be).
It's eye-opening and mildly entertaining. Not a masterpiece, but a good diversion and enlightening. Really it makes me wish I was involved in Wall Street. It seems like they casually throw around sums that I could only dream about.
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@joe.edwards said:
It's eye-opening and mildly entertaining. Not a masterpiece, but a good diversion and enlightening. Really it makes me wish I was involved in Wall Street. It seems like they casually throw around sums that I could only dream about.
It's not too late. SMU has a Master's in Finance degree program.
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@Snooder said:
@morbiuswilters said:
@joe.edwards said:
@morbiuswilters said:
For example, in saying that all labor has value because it is labor, regardless of the subjective value of the product.
Oh, so like Bitcoin.Technically, no. Bitcoin has subjective value because people think it has subjective value. In theory, people are giving money in exchange for Bitcoins.
I know you were being facetious, but I just wanted to point that out. Bitcoin is an investment. It's a highly-speculative investment, and if you ask me, it's a terrible investment, but in theory it is an investment. Honestly, you'd probably get less inflation from investing in Zimbabwean Dollars.
Actually, Bitcoins are a (deliberately) deflationary currency.No. They're only deflationary if the value of them increases faster than they are being produced. I know that's the theory, but if the value of them drops to $0 in 5 years (which is almost certain) then they will be highly inflationary. They're currently trading for something like $450 so they have a long, long way to fall.
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@joe.edwards said:
Could one of you aspiring economists explain where the value is in something like high-frequency stock market trading?
They are essentially just gaming the system.
But the whole stock market is rigged. It's been turned from a fairly useful store of value into an ultra-hyped casino. The influence it has on economic policy far outweighs its actual value and it now mostly exists as a way for middle class people to give their retirements over to the government and banks.
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@joe.edwards said:
The book is interesting though, and a lot of the claims seem almost libelous (and the only reason I figure he hasn't been sued yet is they must be true claims).
Well, it's only been out for a few weeks now. That said, the claims might be entirely true.
In essence, HFT is a scam, but the whole fucking equities and bond markets are rigged, too. Jesus, even currency is rigged. It benefits the politically-connected class, and that is all.
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@locallunatic said:
Capital in the 21st Century
It's the twice-a-decade rehashing of Marx, nothing more.
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@Snooder said:
@joe.edwards said:
It's eye-opening and mildly entertaining. Not a masterpiece, but a good diversion and enlightening. Really it makes me wish I was involved in Wall Street. It seems like they casually throw around sums that I could only dream about.
It's not too late. SMU has a Master's in Finance degree program.I'm guessing you're being facetious, but it is too late for Joe. Or, more accurately, there was never really a chance for him.
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@flabdablet said:
@El_Heffe said:
If you are not engaged in HFT then there is no value.
The standard excuse for HFT is that the aggregate effect is to reduce the spread between buy and sell offer prices, which according to the efficient market hypothesis will tend to make the price of tradeables converge on their true value. Personally I think that's bollocks but I have no actual science with which to back that opinion, merely the observation that having the guys with the fastest computers hoover up all the inefficiency and turn it into money doesn't make it go away, just obscures it a little.Actually, it's substantially worse than just giving the spread to the guy with the fastest computer. It creates the illusion of momentum which pushes stocks higher and higher even as the real economy continues to die. It also generates flash crashes which wipe out large sums of (admittedly fabricated) wealth because some algos started chasing after each other, trying to sniff each other's butts.
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@locallunatic said:
highly praised econ book (that would be Capital in the 21st Century)
From what I've heard, you'd be better off reading Ayn Rand.
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@boomzilla said:
@locallunatic said:
highly praised econ book (that would be Capital in the 21st Century)
From what I've heard, you'd be better off reading Ayn Rand.
It's also not really an economics book. It's political advocacy around economic issues, but from what I've seen online it's full of errors and it's not really an attempt to study economics, but just to push a party line.
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@morbiuswilters said:
@dkf said:
@Maciejasjmj said:
Ayn Rand fanfiction
People write that sort of thing? How on earth do they manage to be more turgid than the original? Or are we talking Ayn Rand slash fiction, in which case I really don't want to know…Here's a serious question: have you actually read any of her work, and if so which and how much? I only ask because Rand is one of those authors that everybody has an opinion on but almost nobody has actually read, which tells you a lot about people.
I thought everyone read Ayn Rand. Typically, this happens between semester 2 at college (in which the protagonist almost flunks out) and semester 3 (in which the protagonist loses 15 pounds, gets laid, and becomes COO of a cross-country railroad).
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@bridget99 said:
becomes COO of a cross-country railroad
The type of megacorporation du jour has changed…
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@dkf said:
@bridget99 said:
becomes COO of a cross-country railroad
The type of megacorporation du jour has changed…Yeah, nowadays it would be COO of a social network for cross-country railroad executives.
Dear God.. I made myself sad.
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@morbiuswilters said:
@dkf said:
@bridget99 said:
becomes COO of a cross-country railroad
The type of megacorporation du jour has changed…Yeah, nowadays it would be COO of a social network for cross-country railroad executives.
Naw. Half of the point of making Dagny Taggart a railroad executive was the underlying subtext of the heavy-handed overregulation of railroads by the Interstate Commerce Commission at the time.
I'm not sure what would be an appropriate analogue in today's time. Maybe a health care company?
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@Snooder said:
@morbiuswilters said:
@dkf said:
@bridget99 said:
becomes COO of a cross-country railroad
The type of megacorporation du jour has changed…Yeah, nowadays it would be COO of a social network for cross-country railroad executives.
Naw. Half of the point of making Dagny Taggart a railroad executive was the underlying subtext of the heavy-handed overregulation of railroads by the Interstate Commerce Commission at the time.
I'm not sure what would be an appropriate analogue in today's time. Maybe a health care company?What if Choo-Choose (our social networking site for railroad executives) is under multiple FISA orders to disclose private information to the FBI. And they're required by Federal regulations to keep records on all of their users for handing over to the NSA?
Being a health care company today would be more like 1984 than anything.
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@morbiuswilters said:
Choo-Choose (our social networking site for railroad executives)
+1
