Political Quotes

“My amendment clarifies that this bill is only intended to apply to the source code underpinning algorithmic trading rather than any computer code that exists anywhere in the enterprise. The algorithmic source code at a trading firm are its crown jewels. It is basically the core of its existence in its intellectual property. It is not merely historical or descriptive like books or records that regulators routinely have access to. Likewise, it is not a broad expression of strategies that a firm might use some time in the future. Rather, it is a specific and prescriptive algorithm that generates a specific outcome based on a specific set of inputs. The firms that rely on algorithmic trading have Ph.D. scientists, mathematicians, and economists researching correlations that lead to these relationships between the inputs and outputs. These may be simple but may also be incredibly complex, involving multiple inputs that do not appear related at first glance. This complexity, coupled with the fact that they are written largely in computer code, limits the usefulness of inspecting source code as an examination tool. It is, rather, the behavior of the firm in the market that represents potential violations of security laws. Manipulative behavior, like frequently displaying or canceling orders, should get the regulators' attention and prompt them to ask the firm to explain it.…”