William Blair On "Good" Vs "Bad" HFT

A lively debate over high frequency trading (HFT) took place at the Reuters HedgeWorld event in Chicago titled “The Uneven Playing Field.” William Blair on good vs bad algorithms When considering if there are “good” and “bad” algorithms, Brian Ziv, Partner head of hedge fund strategies at the staid investment banker William Blair, said there were points of positive and negative differentiation. Arbitrage strategies that don’t involve front-running of information can be valuable. “Covariance matrix trading, where a move in one stock isn’t reflected in other stocks, is a legitimate and beneficial strategy,” Ziv said. “Market arbitrage can be good…