Dark Pools: High-Speed Traders, A.I. Bandits, and the Threat to the Global Financial System

Scott Patterson, the author of "The Quants"... Honestly, I did not enjoyed "The Quants" so much as there are few confusions and doubts remained (even until today) since my last read few years back. So, now here I am with another of Quants' stuff. Let us see how it goes this round...

At the end… it is still the same, LOL. Scott Patterson although tried hard not to be too academic (the story is interesting actually), but my limitation of knowledge just does not seems to be able to absorb the whole thing completely. The first part on the overall history that led to our modern market today is actually interesting. However, the second part on market microstructure is a bit confusing.  Well, like I mentioned above, it may not be the problems by the author. It could really due to my “shallow knowledge” that contributes to the whole confusion. In fact, I did my best to research and ask around those experts. However, there are no resources that can provide me with the answer to all my puzzles. Well, this is also why it took me more than 2 weeks to finish this book...

Another possibility could lies with the facts that this is an industry will full of intense secrecy. As such, as a non-insider, the author might not be able to express his views and opinions in a correct manner. After all, those insiders are peoples who rarely willing to discuss about it.

Overall, I rated highly this book from the perspective of history description and the minimal academicals way of writing. However, I must admit that… the more I dig into this book, the more puzzles pondering in my mind. As such, out of 10, I am rating this book at 6. I thought it could be better if there is a mentor to help out during the whole reading process…