Document:Q11256

On May 6, 2010, around 2:40 p.m., the Dow Jones Industrial Average index fell about 900 points in less than twenty minutes. The loss was estimated at one trillion dollars. Following this event, all transactions made that day between 2:40 and 3 p.m. were canceled in joint agreement. This instantaneous stock market crash, which is now referred to as the “Flash Crash,” was caused by miscalculations carried out by high-frequency trading robots operating on the markets. Despite its virtuality, this crash sheds light upon the actual architecture of finance; its particular temporality and scale that reaches far beyond human physical abilities and perceptions, where robots trigger thousands of orders each second and flood the market with millions of fake information to hide their true investments, a process which is called “quote stuffing.” Engaging finance in its most recent and complex developments, RYBN has undertaken the construction of its own amateur trading bot, designed to invest and speculate on the financial markets. Its decisions are taken with the help of an internal algorithmic intelligence system, and can be influenced by a wide range of external arbitrary parameters. The whole decision system allows the program to foresee the next moves in the markets, while it tries to identify and anticipate the relevant and effective patterns within the financial chaotic oscillations. The performance stops when the robot reaches bankruptcy.