When we trade stocks, bonds, commodities, derivatives and other financial instruments, we normally rely on markets. These markets in New York, Chicago, London, Tokyo, etc., have traditionally been run by humans — humans who need to take breaks on weekends and go home to their families and rest after working hours.
Billions (if not trillions) of dollars' worth of these instruments exchange hands daily. The really good ones can “front run” orders because of the speed of their networks in what the public now knows as “high-frequency trading.” These trades run so fast that sometimes profits are made in the span of microseconds.
