January 8, 2016
I urge the Commission to approve the IEX application to become an exchange. After I read Michael Lewis' book, I had the opportunity speak to a senior person at a company that supplied networking equipment to high frequncy trading firms. He relayed to me that they had unusual requests from these firms to build them customized equipment at extraordinary expense only to save a fraction of a millisecond. That was the only real technology advantage to the customized machines in returned for very high custom build expense. It makes you wonder why? And then 'Flash Boys' explained it. Being in the Finance industry now, it's clear no one bets big money unless there is a high probability payoff. So why would such a small time advantage be worth so much? It's clear the HFT are making money by gaming the market. The SEC has a chance to put a stop to it. Please do.