
Visualising High Frequency Trading in Bitcoin (2014) - nosuchthing
http://parasec.net/transmission/order-book-visualisation/
======
jnordwick
This is really old, from around the end of 2014 it appears.

Also there is no HFT in cryptos: there is no colocation and not a single
exchange can support either the market data dissemination or order processing
capabilities right now. Every crypto exchange is horribly slow and appears to
be terribly written.

~~~
gnaritas
That doesn't mean there's no HFT; automated trading as fast as the exchanges
allow is HFT.

~~~
jnordwick
Not by any definition I've seen. There's always the notion that hft techniques
have always existed and there is some validity to that but usually when
referred to in a modern context it relies on qualities that make speed of
light (hence colocation) a limiting factor.

~~~
gnaritas
On a modern exchange it does mean that because that's what it takes to trades
as fast as possible, on a low tech bitcoin exchange where such speeds are not
possible, it takes much less; it's HFT none the less. It's still computer
programs trading the same algorithms offering up liquidity to flip a quick
profit as fast as the tech allows.

~~~
jnordwick
I work in HFT and i probably couldn't run most of my stats on these exchanges.
There are some that can be but their performance limits what can be run.

The ones that could be run are often the same that were run on the exchange
floor but you wouldn't call those 20 years ago HFT.

~~~
gnaritas
Bitcoin exchanges are full of manual TA chart traders, to them everyone
running algo's is a HFT; context matters, you can't compare the nascent tech
in Bitcoin to a modern Wall Street exchange. If you're algo trading as fast as
technically possible on the exchange, you're HFT'ing. Words have meaning, you
can't get any higher frequency than as fast as the exchange allows.

HFT'ers collocate because it gives them an edge, they were HFT'ers before they
discovered that edge, collocating isn't what makes it HFT. Trying to trade
faster than your competitor, competing on speed, that's what makes something
HFT.

------
bmilleare
I submitted this post back in 2015 and it's no less impressive now - I'd love
to see some updated analysis now that automated trading is even more prevalent
in btc.

------
brooklyntribe
Plan B?

Just buy what you can afford each week. And don't think about it. Come back in
a year.

Retire to Goa. AKA A beach. :-)

~~~
bradleyjg
This asset class is different. Prices only ever go up.

~~~
qntty
It's hard to tell what's satire and what's serious when people are talking
about bitcoin

------
GordonS
Wow, this is the most in-depth analysis of dodgy Bitcoin trading I've ever
seen.

Is this kind of thing still possible, or do exchanges prevent it these days?

~~~
Zarath
Order book spoofing still happens all the time.

"Related to fleeting orders (inevitable order cancellations), laying involves
adding volume at various price levels with the sole intention to influence
other market participants into believing (observing) an order book imbalance
or strong buying/selling pressure."

As a trader, this is something you should be learning to spot.

~~~
OscarCunningham
Right, if people are expecting spoofing then it should lose money. People
won't change their prices in response to it, but they will accept your overly
generous offers.

~~~
Zarath
Not everyone does and there can be multiple layers of reverse psychology even
if there is. Is this wall fake? If so, are they trying to fake that there is
sell support? Or do they know people will think that and there really is sell
support?

