Stocks

As the Coronavirus continues to spread rapidly at the time of writing mid this March, the full scale of the risk to the global economy has hit markets with rarely seen violence. The speed of the sell-off in equities and “risky” asset classes has only been matched by the rise in price of safe haven assets such as U.S. government bonds (Treasuries) or gold.
Now cash has suddenly become King and riskier asset classes shunned - at least for now. Who would have thought this just a few months ago? We certainly live in volatile and risky times.

If you invest in the stock market, have a pension or life insurance and have never heard of High Frequency Trading then it is extremely likely you have lost money to this practise.
High Frequency Trading is essentially the use of computer programs known as algorithms and high speed internet connections to find out what stock trade is being made and to then buy or sell that stock before that trade can be made, taking an instant commission from the price jump. It’s like invisible Gazumping only much faster and you only get in the middle of the trade for a millisecond.