In the fast-growing high-frequency trading, including transactions at securities exchanges broad snowing practice is to speed up the execution time for all investors to make it more expensive to buy or sell, and constitutes no small investors from risk.

This is the spirit of a high-frequency trading defense of the Chicago Board Options Exchange posted online Tuesday, the nation's largest options market.

 High frequency of transactions is usually the use of high-speed computer and connect to the exchange, purchase and sale of securities, up to several thousand times per second major transaction. This practice has become a highly controversial financial sector - on the one hand because of electronic trading business has been rapidly replacing the floor traders (see photo), and due to fears it may be at a disadvantage of small investors. Senator Charles Schumer, New York, by claiming the title last summer's flash transactions, technology is often used in high-frequency trading, should be banned.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last week requested the views of practice and related issues, such as the so-called dark pool trading exchange in the professional focus of public attention securities growth. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking strategic advice and information on the high type, using the frequency traders, whether they help or hurt investors, and whether strategies should be a debate on how the rule of inches, there will be a tremendous impact on many exchanges, the New York Stock Exchange Euronext, including the New York Stock Exchange (NYX - news - people), Chicago Board Options Exchange and Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group (Chicago Mercantile Exchange - news - people).

For its part, the Chicago Board Options Exchange, said Tuesday that retail investors from high-frequency trading damage, because they usually make long-term rather than instantaneous investment decisions. Small investors can hold such as General Electric (GE - news - people), Apple Computer (AAPL - news - people) and Exxon Mobil (XOM - news - people years) stocks. More importantly, the implementation of the strategy of stock options typically include the purchase and sale of retail business in the monthly or quarterly popular choice. So, the Chicago Board Options Exchange that, from the competition and to maintain a high frequency of transactions, the scope of their time that they are often directly in microseconds, Edward Tilly, executive vice president of the exchange said.

High-frequency trading has been greatly raise a number of exchanges, the trading volume in recent months. They are considered 50%, electronic futures and options markets on the 70 pairs of stock exchanges and similar activities, the proportion of%. New York, Euronext, a spokesman said a high-frequency online trading in August last year on national defense.