How High-Frequency Trading Firms Can Rig the Game

“Let’s make sure we don’t kill the golden goose,” a manager warned cohorts at New York high-frequency trading firm Athena Capital Research, which had developed a rapid-fire, complex algorithm code-named “Gravy” to fraudulently manipulate the closing prices of tens of thousands of big-name U.S. stocks, such as eBay (EBAY) and Northern Trust Corp. (NTRS).