Buffet wiring the future

Berkshire Hathaway's subsidiary Business Wire has taken a direct stance in the fight against high frequency traders. As previously addressed, I am very much against HFT as it does not help market liquidity or stability. In a press release, it was announced HFT firms  will no longer have direct access to the feeds of Business Wire. This is a real issue for HFT firms as this is a huge arbitrage strategy; they get direct access to business announcements from business wire in order to save a few microseconds from the time it would take to get it from a new outlet such as Dow Jones or Bloomberg. These microseconds allow them to capitalize on information latency.

This will not hurt the bottom line for Berkshire Hathaway at all. It is clear this is more of a symbolic move and has been applauded by proponents for trading reform. Buffet and HFT are in a very different business. Buffet buys shares in companies that can survive, grow, and profit for generations. These investments do not need to be sold. HFT firms on the other hand simultaneously buy and sell securities in microseconds, clogging queues, and essentially front running. If you are an individual investor wishing to make money in the stock market, I would like to suggest being comfortable holding on to your shares for more than a few microseconds.

Buy companies that will not need to be sold.