Nanex Research

Nanex ~ 19-Nov-2013 ~ High Frequency Poppycock


A sure fire way of knowing when someone is either making up stories, or just graduated from school, is if they make the claim that High Frequency Trading is what lowered trading commissions to $10. Anyone who has been around the markets over the last 15 years will remember that online trading commissions dropped below $10 in the mid to late 1990's. Thanks to the internet wayback machine, we can prove it: the image below captures how Ameritrade's website appeared on Wednesday February 11, 1998. Note the advertisement for $8 trading commissions.

High Frequency Trading didn't appear for another decade, according to Google trends. Read more common myths about High Frequency Trading and how it harms the average investor.

If people are going to tell tall tales on national news networks - tales which can be easily debunked as we've done here, what about tales involving data that isn't readily available?




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