The hack of the Central Command’s Twitter feed and Yahoo account at the same time as the President’s speech about cybersecurity– not sure I can add anything there.
Another story caught my eye. Maybe it was just innovation. Or maybe taking unfair advantage of the level-ish playing field. Or the perils of acquisitions.
“SEC Fines BATS Over Disclosure On Orders,” Wall Street Journal, January 13, 2015 C3. The SEC fined BATS $14 million for an alleged failure to disclose details of order types that gave some high-speed traders an advantage, as if they needed more of an edge. A company that merged into BATs had created the unusual order types for two particular trading firms but apparently didn’t tell the market how these order types actually worked. A record fine for a stock exchange.
If you give somebody preferential treatment and want to hide it from others, that may be a sign of a problem. Faster access to market information or faster execution of trades are two of those preferences that are subject to heightened scrutiny. And this investigation arose from a whistleblower’s complaint.
