High frequency fuzzy math:

07/31/2009 • Reuters

One of the many mysteries swirling around high-frequency trading is just how profitable the lightning-fast buying and selling of stocks, options and commodities really is. Most prefer to say simply nothing on the subject, leaving us in a very dark pool on the issue of high-frequency profits. To be fair, Goldman Sachs (GS.N) recently came out and said "even using the broadest definition, high-frequency shares trading accounted for less than one percent of Goldman Sachs' total revenue in the first half of 2009." But Goldman is talking only about high-frequency trading of stocks, not options and commodities. In options trading alone, Goldman's algorithmic-driven platform is estimated by a market source to account for 15 percent of the daily trading volume.