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Senate Panel Probing High-Frequency Trading Talks To 'Flash Boys'


A Senate panel probing high-frequency trading on Wall Street has spoken to the people behind IEX, the upstart trading venue prominently featured in Michael Lewis' book Flash Boys, Politico reported on Monday.

The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which investigated Wall Street's role in the 2008 recession, is preparing for a June 17 hearing on the risks associated with computerized and algorithmic traders.

Lewis' book cast IEX chief executive Brad Katsuyama as a protagonist, publicizing the debate over high-frequency trading that has allowed some traders to manipulate markets for profit.

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), who chairs the subcommittee, told Politico's Ben White that he thought it was "just a fascinating subject."

The hearing will also examine a broader range of subjects, including other "conflicts of interest" in the stock market.

"The issues are fairly clear," Levin said. "This is not an issue where you've got to figure out who said what to whom when."