Donald MacKenzie, a professor of sociology at the University of Edinburgh, became fascinated with high-frequency trading 10 years ago, specifically about the alpha involved in speed. John Lothian News interviewed Professor Donald MacKenzie over Zoom about his new book “Trading at the Speed of Light; How Ultrafast Algorithms are Transforming Financial Markets,” published by Princeton University Press.

Bradley Rotter was on the financial floor of the Chicago Board of Trade when the Treasury bond market was working out its inefficiencies in its early days. Sparse institutional interest in bond futures in the beginning created lots of opportunities and sometimes the markets would move limit up and and limit down in the same day.

In a recent JLN interview, Donnie Roberts, the CEO of the Small Exchange, said he “want(ed) people to join a bit of a revolution that we feel we have started.” If Roberts is going to succeed, he is going to have to put on his Phrygian cap and start a real revolution.

The John Lothian Daily Update is a podcast turning the daily JLN hits and takes comments, our original content and the stories and quips in the top box of First Read into a daily podcast.