Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt

by Michael Lewis

Before Brad explained to him how Thor worked and why, Schwall hadn’t thought twice about the U.S. stock markets. After he met Brad, he was certain that the market at the heart of capitalism was rigged. “As soon as you realize this,” he said, “as soon as you realize that you are not able to execute your orders because someone else is able to identify what you are trying to do and race ahead of you to the other exchanges, it’s over,” he said. “It changes your mind.” He stewed on the situation; the longer he stewed, the angrier he became. “It really just pissed me off,” he said. “That people set out this way to make money from everyone else’s retirement account. I knew who was being screwed, people like my mom and pop, and I became hell-bent on figuring out who was doing the screwing.”