Financial markets and the exchanges that support them depend on a public perception of fairness. This perception is essential to maintain the confidence of investors.

Today, however, there are a number of technological vulnerabilities in the market that give a few ultra-sophisticated traders a decided advantage over others. High-frequency trading, algorithmic trading, ultra low-latency trading and co-location are the most obvious examples of this destabilizing trend.

In addition, given the current state of the network architecture that supports most of the major exchanges, it is now possible for unethical traders to use technology to delay, disrupt and gain unauthorized access to the orders of other buyers and sellers. Given the enormous profits that can be made, it is reasonable to assume that unscrupulous traders will take or already have taken advantage of this technological vulnerability.

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