How Algorithmic Trading Undermines Efficiency in Capital Markets.
This Article argues that the rise of algorithmic trading undermines efficient capital allocation in securities markets. It is a bedrock assumption in theory that securities prices reveal how effectively public companies utilize capital. This Article develops two lines of argument. First, algorithmic markets evidence a systemic degree of model risk -- the risk that stylized programming and financial modeling fails to capture the messy details of real-world trading. Secondly, informed traders, long regarded as critical to filling gaps in information and supplying markets with insight, have fewer incentives to participate in algorithmic markets and to correct these and other informational deficits. This argument has significant implications for regulation that views prices as providing an essential window into allocative efficiency. In concluding, this Article outlines pathways for reform to better enable securities markets to fulfill their fundamental purpose: efficiently allocating capital to the real economy.
In summary, algorithmic trading has transformed securities markets. It brings many advantages but also imposes serious costs on the major function that securities markets perform: allocating capital efficiently and productively across the real economy. The entrenchment of model risks across the marketplace and pressures on informed investors risk skewing the gains of algorithmic trading in favor of shortterm and more cheaply researched information. The implications for regulation are far-reaching and profound, given the extensive reliance that lawmakers and market actors place on prices as a proxy for allocative insights. This Article represents a first step in drawing into relief the significance of algorithmic trading for capital allocation. Its ultimate goal lies in motivating deeper reflection about the prime place of securities prices at the center of regulation and how best to invest regulatory resources in making markets meaningfully informative. With markets set to grow ever more automated, this represents a critical question for regulators building markets and the rules that govern them for the present and the future.