Big Surprise In Citadel, KCG Holdings HFT Investigation Is The Investigation

The big news in the Citadel, KCG Holdings HFT investigation, first reported by Reuters today, is that such an investigation is even taking place.

There has been a slow change in financial services and, like an oven temperature being expertly turned up, few people have noticed. From 2012 onward investigators have been slowly turning up the pressure much like one might change the long / short ratio in a hedge fund using macro-economic indicators. The FBI investigation into Citadel LLC on high frequency trading issues benchmarks another example of an investigative move that those close to the situation thought improbable. Ken Griffin, founder of Citadel and avid art collector, runs one of the larger and more secretive alternative investment firms in...