“I guess our critics feel that
the only way to get your
point across sometimes, if
it isn’t based in fact, is to
scream and shout.”
sometimes, if it isn’t based in fact,
is to scream and shout. I think the
rhetoric and the intensity of those
opinions highlighted how weak
their arguments really were. We
were a little taken aback by how
unprofessional it was to be totally
honest.
Ronan Ryan: From our stance, we
did take solace in such an attack
because as Brad pointed out,
prior to that a lot of our claims
were deemed to be fiction and
hype - so having people attack the
specific parts of our model that
we designed it for validated what
we were saying. When we said
that people are using acknowledg-
ment of a trade and single digit
microseconds to cancel their other
trade intents on other venues, in
2014 people just said that doesn’t
happen.
In some of the comment letters,
people literally wrote that by
finding out 350 microseconds
after a trade occurred they would
be unable to pull their quote. We
had always said that we represent
the institutions and when they
are sending a trade from market
to market, they don’t have the
opportunity to cancel their order,
but another side of the trade does.
That’s what we wanted to equalise
and I think we have proved that
we do equalise that. It was great
validation from those who do not
support us.
HM: When ‘Flash Boys’ was pub-
lished and IEX was founded, there
was talk in the industry that high
frequency trading (HFT) was becom-
ing less of a concern for buy-siders.
Do you think HFT is still a concern
for buy-side investors?
Winter 2016
TheTrade
43