Survey Reveals 76% of Traders Believe the SEC Circuit Breaker System Will Not Stop the Next Flash Crash

September 08, 2010 (PRLEAP.COM) Business News
San Francisco, Calif. – September 8, 2010 – TradeTech in San Francisco, the West Coast's premier equity trading event, today announced the results of its annual equity trader and technologist survey. The survey was conducted amongst TradeTech's buy-side and sell side community in anticipation of this year's conference to be held October 4 – 6, 2010 at the Westin Market Street in San Francisco.

TradeTech polled more than 130 traders and technologists from both the buy side and the sell side, and when asked if they thought the new circuit breaker system will stop us from experiencing another flash crash, there was a resounding 76% that responded no, with only 24% thinking the new fail-safe system is an adequate preventive measure. Additionally, 78% are concerned that newly introduced financial regulation will adversely affect their desk's performance.

Other key findings of the survey include:

- 85% of respondents believe that up to 50% of the market's volatility is due to Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs);

- 42% believe that cloud computing is more than just a trend and something that will affect their business, while 14% didn't know what cloud computing was; and

- when asked about their biggest IT priority this year, the respondents were almost evenly split between portfolio management, low latency, and compliance.

"Its clear from the results of this survey that many equity traders are concerned about pending regulation, and potential changes in market structure" said Sara Mueller, Executive Director, Worldwide Business Research. "This year at TradeTech in San Francisco, we will hear from a variety of buy-side and sell-side participants about what they are doing to cope with changes, and stay competitive."

For more information and full results of this survey, contact: TradeTechWest@cognitomedia.com.

About TradeTech
Launched in 2001, TradeTech is the most recognized conference for equity traders and technologists and the largest buy-side gathering. It is the highest quality equity trading event covering both domestic and global trading strategies to increase the efficiency of trading desks around the world. TradeTech runs major events in New York, Paris, San Francisco, London, Toronto, and Tokyo.