Mark Cuban Exits the High-Frequency Trading Game He Hated Anyway
Mark Cuban Exits the High-Frequency Trading Game He Hated Anyway
(Bloomberg) -- Mark Cuban has gotten out of high-frequency trading.
The Dallas Mavericks owner recently sold his stake in Virtu Financial Inc., he wrote in an email to Bloomberg News.
Though a long-time critic of speedy trading, the billionaire revealed earlier this year that he’d invested in Virtu, one of the more successful practitioners of the widespread market-making technique. He later explained that while he disliked high-frequency trading, Virtu protected against market calamities.
“The fact that it is such a great hedge confirms the problems I have with it," he said.
Virtu’s shares surged after his investment came to light, even as the stock market tanked, peaking above $37 in April. Market-makers tend to see their profits soar when markets are volatile.
A Bloomberg article in May had called it a “well-timed wager” following the rally, and that story was attached to the email correspondence with Cuban this week. The shares have since sunk to around $25.
“Not so well-timed,” Cuban wrote Tuesday.
Cuban exited Virtu as he shifts his portfolio toward cash as the stock market tanks. The S&P 500 plunged 6.9 percent in October, its largest monthly loss in seven years.
“I lightened up on my longs, other than Netflix and Amazon,” Cuban wrote. “In the event (and I’m not predicting) the market pulls back much further, if I see bargains I want to have cash available to take advantage of the next leg of a potential pullback.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Nick Baker in Chicago at nbaker7@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net, Pierre Paulden, Daniel Taub
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