Most of us have never heard of high-frequency trading. Yet, many experts predict that the next financial crisis will be caused by this new practice, invented by Wall Street. Thousands of computers are interconnected, buying and selling thousands of market shares every micro-second, with no human control or regulation. We delve into a mad financing world dominated by machines, or rather, by elaborate algorithms carefully developed by mathematicians. The ultimate goal? To reach maximum profit within a few seconds. But sometimes, software breaks down and creates, what experts call a “flash crack,” an instantaneous market collapse. We investigate the job of speed traders and expose the often shocking methods they use to reach their goals.
About half of Wall Street trades are now performed by automated 'bots. As the algorithmic robot traders outpace and outperform the humans, what are the dangers they pose?
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From the director of 'Goldman Sachs: The Bank that Rules the World' comes a major new investigation into corruption at one of the world's top financial institutions – HSBC.
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In this investigation, we examine the sugar industry. As well as the epidemic in child obesity, sugar has been linked to diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and many common cancers.
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