Flash Trading: Legality, Mechanics, and Strategies

Introduction

Picture two people trying to snag a reservation at a popular restaurant online. One person has a faster internet connection and can access the reservation system quicker. This allows them to secure a spot before the other person, even if they both started searching at the same time. This parallels flash trading, where faster data feeds give traders a head start in placing orders. 

Flash traders use advanced technology and algorithms to gain the advantage of time over the common traders. These algorithms provide trade data to flash traders moments before it is available for all traders in the market. Flash trading means taking advantage of this time difference to enter into favorable trades and profit from the price spread.

This blog covers how flash trading works, its legality, benefits and risks, etc.

What is Flash Trading?

Flash trade meaning is a high-frequency trading strategy that uses the leverage of ultra-fast data and trade execution to capitalize on the minutest price spreads. Here are the components of flash trading:

• High-Speed Execution: Flash traders execute orders within a fraction of a second, much faster than traditional traders.
• Heavy Investments: It requires traders to invest a heavy sum to set up the system close to the stock exchanges to benefit from the timing. Hence, it is mainly undertaken by institutional investors.
• Flash Orders: These orders are visible to a few market participants for seconds before being made available to the rest of the market. As a result, they get a slight edge over other traders.
• Market Data: It depends on receiving quicker market data ahead of other traders. Traders act on this information almost instantaneously.

Compliments and Criticism of Flash Trading

There are 2 sides to every coin. The same is true for flash trading as well. Those who complement the concept give the following arguments:

• It increases liquidity in secondary markets
• It makes the markets more efficient
• It facilitates smoother transactions
• It reduces the price mismatch in the markets

The arguments in criticism of this concept are:

• It doesn’t allow a level playing field
• It favors those having advanced technologies
• It encourages the exploitation of information, creating privilege
• It promotes the misuse of data for personal gains

Flash Trading Processes

To understand how to use flash trading, you should know how it is set up and what the process is to follow. Here are the steps used by flash traders to execute their transactions:

Step 1: Develop the Algorithm

As the stock markets work on large amounts of data, processing it in milliseconds needs advanced technology and powerful algorithms. The flash traders observe the results of these algorithms to find small price discrepancies and benefit from these profitable opportunities.

Step 2: High-Speed Data Feeds

Usually, traders get a standard market feed visible with a certain lag. To bridge this time gap, flash traders subscribe to high-speed data feeds that provide faster market information.

Step 3: Co-Location

When information travels large distances using technology, users experience latency. Flash traders place their servers close to the exchange servers to reduce this time gap.

Step 4: Flash Orders

For flash trading, traders use different orders, including flash orders. These orders are visible to select traders only, allowing them to act before other traders.

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Is Flash Trading Legal?

While this trading is popular around the world, it is regulated or banned by market regulators depending on the levels of market evolution and trader education. Here’s the status of flash trading in different markets:

• Indian Markets: Flash trading is banned by SEBI and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in Indian stock markets and by RBI in Forex markets.
• US Markets: Although flash orders are legal in the US, the SEC restricts certain types of them to ensure fairness in trading.
• European Union Markets: High-frequency flash trading is banned in the EU through directives from financial instruments.
• Other Global Markets: Regulations vary from country to country. However, most of the countries around the world have banned flash trading to protect their investors.

Benefits of Flash Trading

Till now, you must have understood how flash trading provides an unfair advantage to some traders. But here are some benefits of flash trading:

• Increased Liquidity: Flash traders create the market by placing multiple buy and sell orders to profit from the slightest of mis-pricings. This ensures constant flow of money in the market making it easier for other traders.
• Tighter Spreads: When it comes to options and forex trading, where you can trade with margin money only, smaller spreads can reduce trading costs.
• Price Efficiency: Feeding of price differences is called arbitraging in financial terms. Flash traders weed out the mispricings, enhancing true price discovery.

Also Read: Swing Trading

Risks of Flash Trading

Here are the major risks that are feared about flash trade:

• Reduced Market Fairness: Flash trading provides an unfair advantage to technologically advanced traders. This leads to an uneven playing field.
• Market Manipulation: Flash traders have an advantage over other traders by receiving market information faster. This can give rise to manipulative practices like:
  • Spoofing: Flash traders can place fake orders to manipulate the prices
  • Layering: They can create multiple orders that can confuse the market by providing false signals
• Flash Crashes: High-frequency trading can lead the markets toward instability. These sudden and dramatic price movements are called flash crashes. It can cause:
  • Disruption in the market
  • Heavy losses to normal traders
  • Erosion of investor confidence

Alternatives to Flash Trading

If you are a trader and want stable gains, look for alternatives to flash trading. These will help you avoid losses and safeguard your wealth from fraudulent practices.

• Algorithmic Trading: If you use computer algorithms based on predefined rules to develop trading strategies, it is called algorithmic trading. These algorithms work using the general data and take away the millisecond advantage of flash trading.
• Intra-Day Trading: By identifying the price movements, chart patterns, and trends, you can enter into multiple trades during the day. The orders need to be squared off within the same working day. Intra-day trading requires you to be agile and make quick decisions.
• Swing Trading: By analyzing the trend, market movements, charts, and various other phenomena, you can create and hold positions for several days to several weeks. You can profit from the swing movements of the market. Unlike flash trading, which depends on speed, swing trading uses technical and fundamental analysis.
• Long-Term Investing: If you don’t want to trade in the short-term but want to invest with a long-term outlook, you can invest in stocks based on their fundamental analysis. Long-term investments reduce your exposure to market volatility and flash trading risks.

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Conclusion

We have come to the end of this blog. I hope that you have learned how flash trading creates an uneven playing field for traders, disrupting the markets. Although there are arguments in favor of this high-frequency trading concept, it is banned in most countries. It is better to try alternatives to flash trading, which we have discussed in this blog.Join our options trading course to start trading options. Check out this options simulator to practice trading options without risking your capital.

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