Pump Up the Volume

摘要

“The buy side is conservative." This verdict was passed down to me by an executive at a market data firm. He didn't mean that buy-side traders and hedge fund managers are conser- vative in how they vote, the width of their neckties or how late they let their daughters stay out on school nights. He was talking about buy-side firms' view on technology spending. Given a choice to spend a lot on new wares, they'd rather not, thank you. With the importance of technology in today's electronic markets, this ethos may seem foolish. But there are upsides to the approach. For one thing, you can tune out the vendors, which crow that every problem on Wall Street will be solved once firms update their technology.