About Modern Markets Initiative

• Founded in 2013 as the education and advocacy association devoted to the role of technological
innovation in creating the world’s best markets.
• MMI stands in broad support of policies to ensure that the U.S. capital markets remain the envy of
the world; and for global regulatory efforts to establish holistic, data-driven policies to best ensure
the stability of the markets for all participants, particularly Main Street investors, and to offer tools
for the advancement of secure savings and investment through innovation to ensure the Best
Markets Ever.

Our Core Principles

We Support: We Strongly Oppose:

✓ Fair and Equal Access Market Manipulation (front-running,

spoofing, etc.)
✓ Transparency
Added Market Complexity
✓ Market Stability
Unnecessary Trading Costs
✓ Sound Regulation & Strong Cop on the
Beat Reduced Liquidity

✓ Market Efficiency Negative Impacts on Market Quality

✓ Simplicity

✓ Competition

Benefits of HFT
• 50% Reduced Trading Costs, Savings Passed to Pensions, 401ks, Investors. Due to today’s reduced
trading costs, investments in a retirement account over a 30-year-period, will yield a 30 percent
higher return.
• Utilizing Technology for Reg-Tech Like Capacity. Many HFT firms are building Artificial Intelligence,
algorithm, other means to detect market manipulators and other bad actors and working with
regulators to help deploy technology to help surveille our markets.
• Liquidity Providers and Price Stability to Reduce Volatility. HFT market makers provide price
stability by satisfying market demand for a security at competitive prices.

Supplemental Resources
• Charles Jones, Erik Sirri, “Examining the Main Street benefits of our modern financial markets”
(March 2010) Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness, U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
• Hal Scott, “Why U.S. Investors are Better Off Today,” Washington Times, (January 21, 2016).
• Vincent Van Kervel and Albert J. Menkveld, “High-Frequency Trading around Large Institutional
Orders” (Jan 29, 2016).

For more information, please visit ModernMarketsInitiative.org