Daniel Schlaepfer

I wrote in the @FT today on the resurgence of high-frequency trading: ft.com/content/73ceb3… The issue is not whether these firms are successful. Clearly, they are. The question is whether the market structure enabling their rise still serves the wider market. More trading now happens across fragmented venues, away from public exchanges, and through systems ordinary investors rarely see or understand. Retail investors may have more access than ever. But if their orders, data and economics are increasingly routed toward a small group of sophisticated intermediaries, we should ask who the system is really working for. The HFT boom is real. The bigger question is whether it has made markets better, or simply made a narrow slice of the market better at extracting value.

Read my latest for @Forbes on the retail trading boom: forbes.com/sites/forbesbo… "One of the most persistent myths surrounding modern markets is that free trading means fair trading. It does not. Professional participants operate with deeper research capabilities, faster data, and a far more detailed understanding of market mechanics. Hedge funds analyze obscure filings, liquidity flows, derivatives positioning, and structural signals invisible to most retail participants. Meanwhile, many retail traders rely on headlines, social media commentary, or delayed public information. The result is a structural imbalance that is neither malicious nor intentional, but simply embedded in how markets function. Every day, individuals enter competitions against participants who know more, see more, and react faster, at scale. True democratization does not mean simply giving everyone entry. It means giving participants the tools and knowledge necessary to participate responsibly. Today, we have lowered the barriers to entry while keeping the game’s complexity unchanged. When amateurs step into a professional arena believing they are competing on equal footing, markets eventually deliver a harsh correction." #retailtrading #proptrading #commissionfreetrading #fundedtraders

My take in @Finextra on last week’s most important developments in retail trading, and what they reveal about its evolving relationship with professional prop traders: finextra.com/blogposting/30… Recent headlines underline that retail flow is no longer a sideshow that flares up during meme moments. It is now a structural input into liquidity, price formation, and even how market plumbing is being redesigned. If you run an exchange, a broker, a market maker, or a prop shop, “understanding retail” is no longer a marketing line. It is operational hygiene.

When everyone chases the same trade, markets go dark: ft.com/content/6c6698… My letter to the @FT warns that strategy crowding among HFTs and hedge funds is driving liquidity off public exchanges. Less transparency means weaker price discovery, a risk for all investors, not just traders.

My latest piece for @Finextra looks at the recent performance of markets in southern Europe and what it means for traders: finextra.com/blogposting/29… "Southern Europe is proving that markets written off a decade ago can roar back with strength. For traders, it’s a reminder that judgment, curiosity, and adaptability still count for more than raw processing speed. The best prop trading models harness that human edge while providing the guardrails - risk limits, education, mentoring - that allow talent to thrive. And right now, southern Europe looks like one of the most promising places to put that philosophy into action."

Strong piece in Global Trading about the Citadel vs. IEX Options battle. Good to be cited among some thoughtful industry voices in support of evolving market infrastructure. globaltrading.net/citadel-routin…

Enjoyed speaking with @KatLeighDoherty from Bloomberg @business about the Jane Street story: bloomberg.com/news/features/… “There’s no question that they will be getting questions outside of India. The last thing regulators want to do is make it look like they were asleep at the wheel.” It’s still too soon to know whether Jane Street did anything wrong here, and the regulators need to keep an open mind. I know first-hand they can be quick to admonish something they don’t fully understand. But either way it feels like we need a healthy conversation about the role of market makers in society – especially HFT firms – and how to ensure that the best interests of retail traders are kept in mind while devising complex and lucrative strategies.

Read my latest for @Forbes: forbes.com/sites/forbesbo… It’s not every day that a regulator as methodical and reserved as India’s SEBI accuses one of the world’s largest trading firms of a “sinister scheme.” But that’s what happened last week when Jane Street — one of the “new titans of Wall Street” — was banned from India’s markets over allegations of manipulating prices in one of the fastest-growing derivatives markets on Earth. The case matters, regardless of the outcome. SEBI’s intervention is a sign of a maturing regulatory regime unwilling to let opaque strategies go unchecked. However, the final verdict on Jane Street will likely take time and will define not just one firm’s fate but the credibility of modern market structure. Whether arbitrage or manipulation, the episode highlights a critical truth: markets need more transparency, more accountability, and more human judgment. While algorithms may be precise, human prop traders bring ethical judgment, diversity of opinion, and real market engagement. Let’s not waste this opportunity to reimagine what real trading means.

Read my latest in @Finextra: finextra.com/blogposting/28…. Retail traders today face a paradox. Markets have never been more accessible, or more hazardous. What looks like opportunity can quickly become a trap, especially in the age of social media-fueled speculation. The recent implosion of stocks like Jayud Global Logistics (JYD) has once again exposed the painful divide between how retail and professional traders experience the same event. But beneath the headlines of scams and volatility lies a deeper truth: success in this environment is not about luck or hype; it’s about preparation, training, and discipline.

Read my latest for @Forbes: forbes.com/sites/forbesbo… In a recent op-ed for the @FinancialTimes, @BlackRock Chair and CEO Larry Fink called for the 'second draft of globalisation'. “The first step,” he said, is in “helping more people become investors.” He argued that “at the heart of this new model are the capital markets: exchanges where people invest in stocks, bonds, infrastructure, everything. Why? Because markets are uniquely suited to transforming global growth into local wealth.” I couldn’t agree more. While Fink was primarily referring to people’s ability to invest in markets long-term, it’s equally important to make the case for the power of markets in the context of trading.

If irony could be monetized, Citadel would already be trading it. Read my latest @Forbes piece about the strange hypocrisy of the market-maker's 29-page letter to the SEC. forbes.com/sites/forbesbo…

My latest piece for @Forbes looks at the 'Data Wars' unfolding the trading industry. The current battle for faster chips, smarter AI, and greater data storage is taking on a new geopolitical dimension – which raises some unexpected questions and also makes one wonder whether the HFT sphere is at risk of forgetting the human element that makes markets tick. At @realtradingprop we prioritize human insight over algorithms, meaning all the trading decisions are made by humans. forbes.com/sites/forbesbo…

My latest piece for @Forbes looks at the 'New Titans of Wall Street' and how we can preserve the human element of trading: forbes.com/sites/forbesbo…

Good piece by @justinaknope in @Bloomberg, “doomsayers who predicted the dire impact MiFID II would have on the business of equity research turned out to be spot-on. As regulators finally reach the same conclusion and prepare to reverse the rules, the market Cassandras have an equally gloomy message: The damage will be hard to undo.” Complex, expensive, rules-based regulation needs to make way for principles-based reforms. #xj4y7vzkg" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">bloomberg.com/news/articles/… #MiFID

Pleased to have been featured in @theTRADEnews Q2 magazine about the @SECGov ongoing equities overhaul. I argued that when it comes to equities trading regulation, the development of the current rules was informed by technological capabilities that today seem hopelessly archaic. Eighteen years ago, a turnaround time of 500 milliseconds seemed incredibly fast. Now people operate in nanoseconds: thetradenews.com/magazine/the-t… #PFOF

Thanks to @theTRADEnews for quoting me in their coverage of the @EU_Commission's recent decision to ban #PFOF. “I’ve long argued that a PFOF ban is the correct course of action. PFOF is able to finance the illusion of free trading by turning the retail investor into the product,” Daniel Schlaepfer, president and chief executive of Select Vantage Inc, told The TRADE. “All eyes now turn to the SEC, whose new market structure reforms seek to mitigate the negative externalities of PFOF through a set of complex auction rules instead of simply following first principles and banning the practice outright. Perhaps the EU’s decision will give them pause for thought.”: thetradenews.com/hsbcs-head-of-…

The EU has finally decided to ban Payment-for-Order-Flow (PFOF). I’ve long argued this is the correct course of action. PFOF is able to finance the illusion of free trading by turning the retail investor into the product. All eyes now turn to the SEC, whose new Market Structure Reforms seek to mitigate the negative externalities of PFOF through a set of complex auction rules instead of simply following first principles and banning the practice outright. Perhaps the EU’s decision will give them pause for thought: finextra.com/blogposting/24… #MIFID #PFOF

Following lengthy disagreements between Europe’s various decision makers surrounding the practice of Payment for Order Flow, the @EU_Commission – the European Union's executive body – has proposed a compromise through which PFOF will be banned, albeit in a targeted manner, my latest for @Finextra: finextra.com/blogposting/24…