17 September, 2010 by James McBride
The Brave New World Of Trading
Over the last few years the world has changed dramatically for traders. New places to trade, much cheaper prices, combined with a wide range of uniquely focused (some might say, exotic) product offerings have consistently expanded profit opportunities for traders of all experience levels.
And despite the upheaval caused to some in the industry over the past dozen or so years (in particular, the old-school brokers), these changes seem to have been extremely beneficial to the markets at large. No question, digital technology has helped make trading much simpler and more accessible for both individuals and larger entities alike.
As evidence, look to the array of Internet brokers that offer round-the-clock, browser-based order fills. An online smorgasbord of underlying instruments that, up until just a few years ago was only accessible to the most sophisticated managers, is now available to most traders. And real-time market-data providers now offer timely and consistent updates from around the globe. Add to this the fact that hundreds (possibly thousands) of developers and software publishers have sprung up in recent years to create programs that help traders crunch all of this data together in hopes of making huge profits. (more…)