High Frequency Trading    

On July 3, 2009, as Sergey Aleynikov sat on a plane from Chicago back to New Jersey, he had no idea about what twisted fate life had in store for him. A programmer by trade, he had recently left his job at Goldman Sachs for brighter pastures. Little did he know, the FBI sat patiently waiting for his plane to land at Newark airport.

Goldman had notified legal authorities over a suspected stolen computer code by Aleynikov. Goldman claimed that somebody who knew how to use the stolen code could manipulate financial markets on a wide scale. Aleynikov was being deemed a national security threat.

When the plane landed, Sergey Aleynikov was arrested and charged with improperly stealing code that performs "sophisticated, high-speed and high-volume trades on various stock and commodity markets."

In the summer of 2009, most folks were concerned with the Great Recession. Terms like "mortgage meltdown" and "credit default swaps" were the most frequently cited reasons for the recession. The term "high speed trader" was seldom heard. Even today, the term is relatively unused. However, a recent book by Michael Lewis titled Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt may mainstream the term.