Flash Boys On The Farm? Arms Race Gets Unleashed Over Crop Data

This is a few weeks one-time simply I guide maintain a feeling nosotros volition last referring dorsum to it.
From Bloomberg, July 11:

It’s the variety of border whatever trader would covet -- as well as 1 the regime were genuinely hoping to prevent.
Yet the U.S. Department of Agriculture may good last clearing the manner for some Wall Street speed demons to merchandise on market-moving information earlier others. Abandoning decades of precedent, the means has decided to exclusively post its reports straight on the web, rather than likewise liberate them via accredited media. While that may appear similar a democratic move, it genuinely could ready the phase for a winner-takes-all arms race to catch the information first.

The development, announced Tuesday, is the latest saga for crop markets that guide maintain increasingly seen high-speed algorithms taking over as well as running circles roughly slower human counterparts, a subject popularized past times Michael Lewis’s "Flash Boys." Fiber-optic cables, curt moving ridge radio, microwave towers: all guide maintain been employed to merchandise faster.

“Somebody volition figure out the fastest manner to teach the information as well as merchandise on it first,” said Jim Angel, a finance professor at Georgetown University inwards Washington. “What it does is it changes the arms race inwards a unlike direction.”

2-Second Delay
Press organizations piece of occupation high-speed fiber oculus lines to teach information to readers out of the so-called lockup, where journalists are given access to the information upward to ninety minutes inwards advance. It takes the subdivision roughly ii seconds longer to transmit its reports to the public, according to the USDA. The means cited this gap when announcing its policy change.

“Everyone who has involvement inwards the USDA reports should guide maintain the same access every bit anyone else,” Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said inwards a controversy Tuesday.

The changes come upward during a volatile menses for agricultural trading. Soybean as well as squealer futures guide maintain plunged inwards recent weeks every bit Communist People's Republic of China imposed novel tariffs against U.S. farm products. Grain prices guide maintain likewise slumped alongside ample supplies. CME Group Inc. said trading book across agricultural futures as well as options ready an all-time high of 3.2 meg contracts on June 19.

The USDA’s monthly World Agricultural Supply as well as Demand Estimates report, known every bit WASDE, is 1 of the most-followed events inwards the grain-trading world. The August WASDE volition last the offset impacted past times the policy shift. It’s typically closely watched every bit it provides the agency’s offset survey-based production forecasts for corn as well as soybeans, the superlative U.S. crops valued at closed to $90 billion....MORE