Lawmakers Still In The Dark When It Comes To Dark Pools

Lawmakers took up the often confusing topic of dark pools in a hearing Friday, and many appeared to come out of the hearing with no more understanding than what they had coming in. “I’m still trying to get my head wrapped around fractions of nanoseconds,” said Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI), working to understand the increasing speed at which algorithmic trading systems execute orders.  Nanosecond trading is typically associated with high frequency trading where decisions are made in a millisecond and occur on both regulated exchanges and dark pools to a lesser degree. Lawmakers were playing “catch up,” said Rep. Stephen…