Direct Edge Holdings LLC

The fabled New York Stock Exchange isn't what it used to be. Today's NYSE Euronext has lost a huge volume of trading to upstart computerized exchanges in recent years, and scandals have tarnished its luster. Now, Germany's Deutsche Boerse wants to buy control of it. I say: "Sell!"

An arms race has begun in the secretive world of high frequency trading, the practice of making a high number of trades netting small gains that can add up to big profits at the end of the day. Fueling the competition is the entry of more players into the field as well as technological advances...

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is considering a rule to ban flash trading, in which computers fed with order information trade stocks moments before the exchange executes those orders. Conceptually, it sounds like an open and shut case of insider trading to me. The SEC's thoughts on...