High-Frequency Trading: How It Works Today
A clear, evidence-based guide to HFT: history, strategies, technology, risk controls, economics, regulation and the debate — and why 2025 was a record year for electronic market makers.
High-Frequency Trading Industry
What high-frequency trading is, how HFT firms make money, the core strategies, the history of the industry and how it is organised today.
HFT Industry: an overview
High-frequency trading firms provide a large share of liquidity in modern markets and compete on technology, research and risk management.
This section explains the business: strategies, revenue sources, infrastructure, industry structure and the debates around HFT’s role in markets.
Latest HFT Industry research
Browse all research Key concepts
- HFT
- Automated trading characterised by very short holding periods, high message rates and latency-sensitive infrastructure.
- Rebate capture
- Strategies that earn exchange rebates by providing liquidity.
- Capacity
- The amount of capital a strategy can deploy before returns decline.
Research roadmap
What we cover in HFT Industry
Our editorial plan for this section. Published guides are linked; the rest are in research.
- Live High-Frequency Trading: How It Works Today
- Soon How High-Frequency Trading Firms Make Money
- Soon High-Frequency Trading Strategies Explained
- Soon The Flash Crash: HFT, Liquidity and Market Fragility
- Soon Careers in HFT: Quant Trader, Researcher, Engineer