Thomas H. Mclnish, James Upson
Under the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Rule 611 exchanges that have not matched a new National Best Bid and Offer (NBBO) can trade at the old NBBO for one second. In 2008, this rule allowed fast traders to earn estimated revenues of $233 million at the expense of slow traders. Furthermore, we find that when the NYSE decreased latency by 600 milliseconds on March 10, 2008, execution quality improved markedly for fast liquidity demanders, but improved only minimally for slow liquidity demanders. However, we find a decrease in volume executed at adverse prices under the faster market conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]