Murky business

A growing number of observers claim activity by some high-frequency trading firms amounts to little more than manipulation. Some people are throwing around words like 'criminals', 'indictments' and 'theft'. Is there any evidence of wrongdoing? Duncan Wood reports

Buying 25,000 shares of a thinly traded company might not sound like a perilous task, but Joe Saluzzi, co-head of equity trading at New York-based brokerage Themis Trading, tells a different story. The world he describes is one in which he is being constantly watched, tracked by lightning-fast predators, and has to tread very carefully.

To illustrate, he outlines a scenario where he has been asked to fill an order on behalf of an institutional investor. The stock is bid at $12.22 and, looking at