SMART!

Bloomberg’s new ‘Money Stuff’ is fun. This episode includes one SMART idea that flips the usual understanding of tech upside down. They’re discussing new proposals to take all trading into a 24/7 cycle. At present some official crimes are inside NYC exchange hours, with a lot of daytrading crimes and bitcoin crimes happening 24/7.

The usual understanding tells us that 24/7 was impossible before computers, while computers make 24/7 easy. Flatly false. The Chappe system with oil lamps illuminating the flags ran 24/7 and carried stock fraud. Electric telegraphs always ran 24/7 and carried stock fraud.

Bloomberg says the opposite: For the first time, computers make it possible to restrict ALL trading to ONE MOMENT each day. All stocks and options and coins and other fake thingamajigs must change hands at 3PM NYC time. Clearly there are some missing details. Who would set the price and how?

This would instantly kill all front-running and HST tricks, which give total advantage to the biggest criminals who can afford billion-dollar infrastructure to beat the competition by a billionth of a second. It would also slow down the supposed need to track everything all the time. Each trader would have to judge the position of the stock and other traders, then put in exactly one final bid or no bid at all.