High Frequency Trading

Abstract: High frequency trading has emerged over the past decade as a critical component
of modern electronic financial markets. It provides liquidity, efficiency and stability to the global equities,
foreign exchange, futures and other electronic marketplaces. By some accounts, two-thirds of US equity
shares traded are done by high frequency systems. Yet, misconceptions abound in the popular media
today concerning high frequency trading’s impact and value to the broader economy.
We will discuss the value of high frequency trading, and some of the problems (both quantitative and
technological) that must be solved to operate a successful high frequency system.

Biography: Matt Cushman is a Managing Director at Knight Equity Markets, and responsible for the
quantitative strategy development and trading in the firm’s Electronic Trading Group.
He has worked for Knight for seven years, prior to that he was Vice President for research at signal processing
startup Kromos Technologies. He holds a PhD in Mathematics from The University of Chicago and degrees
from Carnegie Mellon University in Mathematics, philosophy and computer science.