VOA慢速英语2011--A Closer Look at High-Frequency Trading

Economics Report - A Closer Look at High-Frequency Trading

经济报道 - 近距离审视股票市场高频交易

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

这里是美国之音慢速英语经济报道。

Once, stocks were traded through the open outcry system, with men shouting share prices on the floors of stock exchanges.

股票曾经是通过公开喊价系统交易，证券交易所的交易员直接报出股价。

But the sights and sounds of stock traders furiously exchanging securities has mostly disappeared. They have been replaced by fast, interconnected computers.

但证券交易商交易证券时的这种疯狂情景和声音已几近消失。它们已被高速互联计算机所取代。

Joe Saluzzi is a head of equity¹ trading at Themis Trading in New Jersey².

乔·萨鲁茨（Joe Saluzzi）是新泽西Themis Trading证券交易部门负责人。

JOE SALUZZI: “The equity market has changed. It’s no longer what you see on TV, it’s no longer guys with colored jackets running around the floor anymore. That’s the show, that’s the TV studio. The equity market is a bunch of co-located computers strung together by a bunch of wires, everyone trying to race to zero. The speed of light is the goal—t he speed of light! That’s what we’re looking at now.”

萨鲁茨：“股市早已改变，不再是你在电视上看到的那样，不再是穿着红马甲的家伙在交易所跑来跑去，那是电视节目和电视演播室的情景。股市是一堆通过电缆连接到一起相互协作的计算机，每台计算机都高速运转，光速才是我们的目标，才是我们现在关注的。”

Computers can process stock trades in thousandths of a second. Andrew Haines of Gain Capital is an online broker³.

计算机处理股票交易只用千分之一秒。美国嘉盛集团（Gain Capital）的安德鲁·海恩斯（Andrew Haines）是一名网上经纪人。

 

ANDREW HAINES: “A millisecond can mean millions of dollars to the success of your strategy. Having a one, two, three-millisecond advantage over other traders may mean that you get into a trade at a preferable price.”

海恩斯：“一毫秒可能意味着你战略成功的数百万美元。比其他交易者领先1到3毫秒可能意味着你以更好的价格交易。”

Andrew Haines says an estimated seventy percent of all stock trades are high-frequency trades made with computers. Stocks may be held for only seconds. But fast trades are also blamed for big moves in stock prices.

海恩斯表示，预计70%的股票是通过计算机高频交易，股票可能只持有几秒钟。但高速交易也导致了股价的剧烈波动。

On May sixth two thousand ten, the leading measure of American stocks briefly⁴ fell nearly one thousand points, or about nine percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average then recovered much of those losses by the end of trading that day.

2010年5月6日，美国股市主要指数一度下跌了近1000点，接近9%的跌幅。随后道琼斯工业指数在当天交易日结束前收复了大部分失地。

The Securities and Exchange Commission ordered steps to prevent future “flash crashes” like that one. Joel Hasbrouck of New York University says those steps are working.

美国证券交易委员会下令采取措施防止未来发生类似的“闪跌”。纽约大学的乔尔·哈斯布鲁克（Joel Hasbrouck）表示，这些措施已经实行。

JOEL HASBROUCK: “They’re called circuit-breakers, and basically what they mean is that when a stock has moved by a large amount in a short period of time, there’s a trading halt.”

哈斯布鲁克：“这被称为熔断机制，它的大概意思是，当一只股票在短时间内价格大幅波动时就暂停交易。”

Joe Saluzzi of Themis Trading says the main problem with high-speed trading is an unbalanced market.

Themis Trading的萨鲁茨表示，高速交易的主要问题是市场不平衡。

JOE SALUZZI: “The stock market used to be a predictor of the future economy. Now I think the stock market is a backwards⁵ predictor. It doesn’t tell you, it’s not forecasting. It’s forecasting the next microsecond move.”

萨鲁茨：“股市曾是未来经济的风向标。现在我认为股市是一个反向的风向标。它不会告诉你这不是预测。它预测下一个微秒的波动。”

But Joel Hasbrouck says high-speed trading can, in fact, reduce sharp rises or drops in stock prices.

但哈斯布鲁克表示，高速交易事实上减少了股价的大幅涨跌。

JOEL HASBROUCK: “In normal circumstances, high-frequency traders act as market-makers. That means, they stand by passively waiting to buy or sell from whoever comes into the market needing to trade. In that capacity, they actually help stabilize⁶ the market.”

哈斯布鲁克：“在正常情况下，高频交易商是股市庄家。这就意味着，他们被动等待与任何需要进入股市交易的人进行买卖交易。在这种身份下，他们实际上有助于稳定市场。”

High-frequency traders use computers to follow stock price movements, buy shares and then sell them to another buyer, all within seconds. This is the opposite of long-term investing. American and European officials are considering ways to limit high-frequency trading. They say this may help protect against extreme market volatility⁷ in the future.

高频交易商使用计算机跟踪股价波动，在几秒内购入股票随后卖给另一个买家。这是长期投资的对立面。美国和欧洲官员正考虑限制高频交易的途径。他们表示，这可能有助于防止未来市场极端波动。

And that’s the VOA Special English Economics Report. I’m Mario Ritter.
_____

Based on a story by Carolyn Weaver⁸.

1 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

2 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

3 broker   

n.中间人，经纪人；v.作为中间人来安排

参考例句：

• He baited the broker by promises of higher commissions.他答应给更高的佣金来引诱那位经纪人。
• I'm a real estate broker.我是不动产经纪人。

4 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

5 backwards   

adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地

参考例句：

• He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
• All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。

6 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。

7 volatility   

n.挥发性，挥发度，轻快，（性格）反复无常

参考例句：

• That was one reason why volatility was so low last year.这也是去年波动性如此低的原因之一。
• Yet because volatility remained low for so long,disaster myopia prevailed.然而，由于相当长的时间里波动性小，灾难短视就获胜了。

8 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。