Algorithmic Investors On Wall Street

[jonpo]

well having recently quit work at financial institution a. having received job offer at financial institution b. I'm off to work in so called "algorithmic investing". certainly the existance of my new job seems at odds with the soundness of the EMH since if it were true why should my job exist ?

at the end of the day an algorithm is just a series of steps you undertake in order to get an expected result. you might have a Warren buffet style algorithm (buy what has value for the very long term). On the other hand I have met "locals" (traders) over in the US who are willing to move mountains in order to get a 10 millisecond advatage in execution over other participants in the market. (of course they couldn't get it but several large institutions CME etc are begining to "teir" the electronic access they distribute).

I've seen people loose millions in the space of a few seconds through the incorect usage of "algorithms"