Odd Lots How the Speed of a Trade Got Down to Nearly the Speed of Light
112 snips
Mar 2, 2026 
Donald MacKenzie, a University of Edinburgh sociologist who studies finance and technology, discusses the history of ultrafast trading. He traces the leap from human-paced trades to machines operating in nanoseconds. He describes the physical speed race from co-location to fiber and microwave links, the cultural shift toward tech-like trading firms, and parallels between HFT arms races and AI scaling.
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Forbes Cover Led To The Island Origin Story
- Donald MacKenzie discovered Island's centrality after seeing a Forbes cover in an interviewee's office and tracing the ECN's role in HFT history.
- That serendipitous lead revealed Island (ECN) was deeply interwoven with the rise of automated trading.
Island's Millisecond Matching Triggered Algorithmic Trading
- High-speed electronic order books replaced human negotiation and enabled algorithmic trading to match orders automatically.
- Donald MacKenzie highlights Island's 2-millisecond matching engine as the technical opening that made automated HFT viable in the late 1990s.
HFT Reached Nanoseconds Near Light Travel Times
- HFT timescales moved from milliseconds to microseconds to nanoseconds, approaching the physical limit of light travel.
- Joe Weisenthal demonstrates a nanosecond by saying light crosses a one-foot gap in about one nanosecond, showing how trading speed neared physical limits.
