60 Minutes airs updated HFT piece

Last fall the accolade-laden news program 60 Minutes aired a story on HFT, bringing to the public a general understanding of this practice sweeping Wall Street and Chicago.  This month they decided to air it again, with some slightly updated information.

Surprisingly, it was more or less the same exact news story; there were no new video segments within the piece, but just a new introduction and new concluding words.  Furthermore, the reporter stated that now HFTs are getting into currency and commodity trading…as if it were a new thing.  Let’s be honest, HFT has been implemented across far more than just equities for quite some time now, not just in the past couple of months.

However, I understand the general public wouldn’t be very receptive to the nitty gritty details anyway. With that being said, I think the segment was a well-produced, balanced piece that is worth viewing for those wanting to stay informed. Check it out here.

One last thing: a big shout out to Manoj Narang of Tradeworx, Inc. Tradeworx was the lone HFT firm represented in the 60 Minutes piece; Manoj was willing to open the doors and be transparent.  Were his transparency more prevalent among HFT firms, there wouldn’t be such needless stigma that has been attached to it throughout the past year or so.   

Arzhang Kamarei, Partner at Tradeworx, Inc., will be speaking at HFT World Chicago next week.