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He has a point as the way I understand the market, when someone makes money on a stock, some other person is losing money.
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In most cases that just isn't true. Most people do not sell stocks at a loss. If they do they will not be doing it for long. In most cases sales are made by people taking profits or selling an asset to raise money for another purpose. i would argue that the folks selling generally got into that equity at a lower price and as such are not losing money but rather "using" the money or taking profits. In many cases this program trading is executing a trade ordered by an individual. I log on to my brokers website and order a purchase or a sale and it isnt some individual that executes it but rather a computer. More and more trades are done this way simply because its more efficient and cost effective. At 9 bucks or less per trade you simply are not going to have people do it. When I post limit orders or buy orders on my holding like I have on most positions it isnt a person keeping track of them but a computer at my brokers. It isnt some computer make a decision but rather executing an action I have requested. i really havent seen much analysis of the source of these instructions in the "sky is falling" expose's Americans seem to be fond of. But the key fact is its hundreds of thousands of customers making decisions that lead to the electronic trading.