This is not the type of book I normally pick up on a bookshelf but I wish I had the strength to do so sooner. The book spells out how the high-frequency traders have cheated investors and traders with nothing on their minds other than the will to make money. It seems that we, as individuals, are losing every single trade whereas powerful companies are winning lotteries by the billion. Lewis has revealed to us that our pensions are on the edge in a captivating book that you can't put down! Probably no one could have illustrated this book better than Lewis. Heart-stopping and explosive, make sure you put this book is on your bookshelf, a must read!

Michael Lewis uncovers how banks and high frequency trading firms have been ripping off investors by using technology to manipulate the financial markets. The book focuses on the exploits of trader Brad Katsuyama and details the extraordinary lengths he went to to try and change a broken system. Engrossing and entertaining, Flash Boys highlights the need for serious change on Wall Street and how an over-reliance on technology can have serious long-term consequences for the economy.

Knowing very little about the US stock market, the Flash Crash of 2010 or the precise meaning of High Frequency Trading, reading 'Flash Boys' was a real education. Michael Lewis has managed to combine a highly technical subject with the compelling human story of Canadian stock market trader, Brad Katsuyama, who discovers that high frequency traders are intercepting and buying his share orders and then selling them to him at a higher price. Using speed as their weapon, high frequency traders are getting to the market first, making millions of dollars a year in profit and at the same time disadvantaging investors. Brad Katsuyama puts together an unusual team of stock market experts to discover what is happening exactly and how to rid the system of its unfair nature. The solution for him, is to expose what is happening and to launch a new stock exchange (IEX), which has the investor's interests at heart. Whilst reading, I had to turn back and re-read sections to make sure I understood some of the technical terms used, but the human desire for truth and fairness shown by Brad Katsuyama drove me to read on. There can be no real ending to a story like this as the US stock market is still in a period of upheaval and change, but Michael Lewis has given an insightful, frightening and powerful story of people, processes and motivations.

Not my usual fodder, I will openly admit that I know little to nothing regarding the antics and practices of those that involve themselves in the cut throat, high pressure world of trading shares, let alone the world of high frequency trading (something I had never heard of prior to Flash Boys), the primary focus of this warts and all exposé. Hence, everything I read was new to me, and surprisingly compulsive. Michael Lewis writes with confidence about a little understood but evidently influential way of trading and reveals the tricks of the trade employed in fleecing investors that entrust their business to big players in the world of finance. Flash Boys investigates corrupt company dark pools, precious, yet misunderstood, algorithms and the intense desire, manifested through desperation, for speed, milliseconds make all the difference on Wall Street and it's maddening. That's not to say this is all about the villains of High Frequency Trading, Lewis follows the story of Brad Katsuyama, a Canadian Investment Banker that sets out to create a stock exchange that will deliver a more honest way of trading after discovering that there was something very much amiss whilst performing in his role for RBC. His story is inspiring and Lewis tells it bravely. Flash Boys reads like the best of thrillers, it's fast paced, features innocent victims alongside wealthy, all powerful villains, it's rife with corruption and betrayal and most worrying of all, it's real, well, so the reader is led to believe. I am certain I will remain baffled by the way this type of trading operates, but as a testament to the author's accessible writing style, I understood the story being told and was both indignant and shocked by the actions of those written into the book's pages. Least of all this book demands to be discussed, the behaviour of those involved needs to be questioned, and the heroes that want to bring change to Wall Street need to be celebrated. A topical and worthwhile read, one that raises some very important challenges to a world run by those that are more than willing to spend millions to make millions, regardless of moral responsibility.

In Flash Boys, Michael Lewis addresses the complex topic of high-frequency trading or HFT that may have caused the economic Flash Crash in 2010. In this fantastic book, Michael Lewis explains how big investment banks as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Citigroup, to name a few, paid millions of dollars to have a few milliseconds of advantage in the trade markets. Flash Boys starts with the narration of few men who start digging a tunnel from Chicago to New Jersey to run a wire and save a few milliseconds in trading exchanges (“It took 100 milliseconds to blink your eyes; it was hard to believe that a fraction of the blink of an eye could have such vast market consequences.”). it goes on to show how a computer error may cause a person or company to lose millions of dollars (even if sometimes they are so rich that they don’t seem to care). It shows how trading companies are not always truthful with their clients and often don’t follow their instructions. It shows how most of the people who work in Wall Street don’t seem to understand how their software, their computer ( and sometimes the market) work. Flash Boys is also the story of the few people who tries to stop the big banks of Wall Street from scamming their clients. Well-written, engaging, informative, Flash Boys gives the reader a clear account of how Wall Street and the trading market work in a way that even a layperson like me who doesn’t have much understanding of trading and investments finds interesting and intriguing.