On Wall Street, milliseconds count...

And in this race, the big guys have a huge advantage over everyone else... giving them the ability to profit at our expense. Henry Blodget describes one aspect of the problem--the ability of computerized traders to detect and respond to market movements in milliseconds, so called "flash trading"--and this 2007 article explains the other--trading firms who are co-locating their computers in the same facilities where the exchanges' computers are placed, giving them a crucial millisecond advantage in placing trades.

The SEC announced plans today to tackle the flash trading problem.