Is Renaissance Attempting To Patent Existing HFT Trade Execution Methods?

Renaissance Technologies, the $32 billion algorithmic hedge fund, has applied to patent on a high frequency trading execution methodology, raising a thorny issue. Will a patent on breathing air follow?

Renaissance appears to piece together various processes in a unique fashion using an atomic clock to syncronize simultaneous transactions

The patent, submitted in February, provides detailed analysis of a system generally in use at various levels throughout the high frequency trading world.

The trading and execution process, first reported by Bloomberg, uses an atomic clock as the cornerstone to synchronize trade execution among multiple servers to the microsecond. The atomic clock, which is not a new invention, is said to...