Speed

Speech by Commissioner Bart Chilton before the High Frequency Trading World USA 2010 Conference, New York

December 8, 2010

Introduction

Good morning and thanks to Terrapinn, and especially Matt Bednarsky, for the kind invitation to speak with you today.

Today, I’m going to spend a few minutes talking about speed. That is, speed not only with regard to computers in trading but also to regulation. Together, we’re all going boldly where no man has gone before. I’ll also share with you a few of my thoughts about the happenings and changes that are occurring in Washington that will impact Wall Street and LaSalle Street and a bunch of people on streets that not many folks have even heard about.

Streets With No Name

In fact, forget about Wall Street or LaSalle, it really doesn’t matter the name of your street at all. Many High Frequency Trading (HFT) and other financial trading firms don’t even have offices in New York or Chicago, let alone London, Hong Kong or Singapore. If you have a connection, you can trade, and trade they do. A recent report says HFT firms account for about 50 percent of European markets. Our CFTC economists say high frequency traders (HFTs) account for roughly a third of all trading volume on regulated U.S. futures exchanges.......read on