Remember Virtu: the “holy grail” HFT firm that epically Plaxicoed itself when, as part of its IPO prospectus, it effectively confirmed it was rigging markets when it showed a chart boasting that it had 1 trading day loss out of a total of 1238 days…
… which promptly led to an expedited inquiry into HFT market rigging, and Michael Lewis’ book exposing the HFT fraud for everyone, forcing Virtu executives to shelve their hopes to get even richer, and selling their equity to the common public?
Well, moments ago it was finally confirmed once and for all that Michael Lewis, and his assertion that the countless US exchanges only work on behalf of HFTs, by providing them glimpses of incoming blocks so the same vacuum tube parasites can frontrun major orders, was spot on, when the WSJ reported that Virtu’s head, Chris Concannon, will be appointed as president of BATS Global, aka DirectEdge, aka the exchange whose own IPO was ironically sabotaged by a stray HFT algo, aka the exchange that lost its previous head Bill O’Brien after he was caught lying, in an unforgettable segment, on CNBC by IEX’s Brad Katsuyama.
The result was O’Brien’s prompt termination, and a leaderless BATS. Until now, when in a dramatic example of the unprecedented collusion between predatory (HFT) client and predator-enabling (and HFT-pandering) exchange, in which the prey is any naive, witless order block that makes its way onto the exchange only to be frontrun with impunity and assure Virtu even more flawless trading days, we once again see just who calls the shots for America’s exchanges.
Virtu Financial LLC executive Chris Concannon will be appointed as president of BATS Global Trading Inc., an upstart Kansas City, Mo., firm that has grown into one of the country’s top stock-exchange operators, BATS said.
Mr. Concannon’s arrival coincides with the company “starting to set our sights on what to do next,” said Joe Ratterman , CEO of BATS, in an interview.
“We came from nowhere nine years ago with 13 employees,” he said. “We’re now the largest exchange operator in Europe, first or second in the U.S. and completing a big acquisition… The company is scaling.”
Well of course, when the entire exchange is designed to benefit HFTs parasitism at the expense of retail and institutional order flow, how can it not grow?
Mr. Concannon, 47, has served as the president of Virtu, a high-frequency trading firm, since 2009. His appointment will be effective Dec. 15. He will fill a void left by William O’Brien, who was forced out of BATS in July amid cultural differences and a decision by BATS to settle allegations that one of its units gave improper advantages to high-speed traders. Those settlement talks, as reported previously by The Wall Street Journal, cover allegations related to Direct Edge Holdings LLC, the exchange operator Mr. O’Brien led before it merged with BATS last year.
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“I love this space and I love our markets,” Mr. Concannon said in an interview. “I’ll be very focused on growing the business.”
And vacuum tubes around the globe will be happy to give it to you Chris: after all where else can they frontrun everyone with such delightful ease, assuring them around 1 trading day loss in 4 years?
via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1x7RAp7 Tyler Durden