编辑推荐
Entirely engaging Illuminates a part of Wall Street that has generally done business in the shadows.
内容简介
Four years after his #1 bestseller The Big Short, Michael Lewis returns to Wall Street to report on a high-tech predator stalking the equity markets. Flash Boys is about a small group of Wall Street guys who figure out that the U.S. stock market has been rigged for the benefit of insiders and that, post–financial crisis, the markets have become not more free but less, and more controlled by the big Wall Street banks. Working at different firms, they come to this realization separately; but after they discover one another, the flash boys band together and set out to reform the financial markets. This they do by creating an exchange in which high-frequency trading—source of the most intractable problems—will have no advantage whatsoever. The characters in Flash Boys are fabulous, each completely different from what you think of when you think “Wall Street guy.” Several have walked away from jobs in the financial sector that paid them millions of dollars a year. From their new vantage point they investigate the big banks, the world’s stock exchanges, and high-frequency trading firms as they have never been investigated, and expose the many strange new ways that Wall Street generates profits. The light that Lewis shines into the darkest corners of the financial world may not be good for your blood pressure, because if you have any contact with the market, even a retirement account, this story is happening to you. But in the end, Flash Boys is an uplifting read. Here are people who have somehow preserved a moral sense in an environment where you don’t get paid for that; they have perceived an institutionalized injustice and are willing to go to war to fix it.
作者简介
Michael Lewis, the best-selling author of Liar’s Poker, The Money Culture, The New New Thing, Moneyball, The Blind Side, Panic, Home Game, The Big Short, and Boomerang, among other works, lives in Berkeley, California, with his wife and three children.
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精彩书评
“Michael Lewis is a genius, and his book will give high-frequency trading a much-needed turn under the microscope.” (Kevin Roose - New York Magazine)
“Dazzling… guaranteed to make blood boil… riveting.” (Janet Maslin - The New York Times)
“If you read one business book this year, make it Flash Boys.” (David Sirota - Salon)
“A beautiful narrative, so well-written. You’ve got to get this.” (Jon Stewart - The Daily Show)
“Important to public debate about Wall Street… in exposing what one of his central characters calls the ‘Pandora’s box of ridiculousness’ that financial exchanges have become.” (Philip Delves Broughton - The Wall Street Journal)
“Michael Lewis knows how to tell a story.” (Vanity Fair)
“Remarkable… Michael Lewis has a spellbinding talent for finding emotional dramas in complex, highly technical subjects.” (Financial Times)
“Who knew high-frequency trading was such a sexy subject?” (Bloomberg Business Week)
“Michael Lewis is one of the premier chroniclers of our age.” (Huffington Post)
“Score one for the humans! Critics of high speed, computer-driven trading have a new champion.” (CNN Money)
“If you own stock, you need to read Flash Boys… and then call your broker.” (Entertainment Weekly)
“In 24 hours, I plowed through Michael Lewis' new blockbuster Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt, a book about the huge changes that have occurred in financial markets in the last three decades. It's compelling reading.” (John Aziz - The Week)
“Flash Boys richly deserves to be the first chapter in a new discussion of market rules and abuses… Lewis raises troubling and necessary questions.” (The American Conservative)
“When it comes to narrative skill, a reporter’s curiosity and an uncanny instinct for the pulse of the zeitgeist, Lewis is a triple threat.” (James B. Stewart - New York Times)
“[Lewis] is a top-flight storyteller.” (Lev Grossman - Time)
“A fast-paced tale backed by gutsy reporting.” (Tina Jordan - Entertainment Weekly)
“A tour de force that will grab and hold your attention like the best of thrillers.” (Jon Talton - Seattle Times)
“Lewis writes about the resilience of underdogs, even in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds. He’s doing essential work, and anything that embarrasses fat cats and encourages reform is a flash in the right direction.” (Julie Hinds - Detroit Free Press)
“Lewis simply tells the truth.” (Will Deener - Dallas News)
“Michael Lewis has another hit on his hands.” (Zachary Warmbrodt and Dave Clarke - Politico)
“[Lewis’s] ability to find compelling characters and tell a great story through their eyes is unparalleled. He can untangle complex subjects like few others. His prose sparkles.” (Joe Nocera - New York Times)
“Fascinating.” (Steven Pearlstein - The Washington Post)
“Lewis, as always, is exceedingly good at describing the complexities and absurdities of the subculture he portrays here… A deeply entertaining book, and one that illuminates how much our world has changed in less than a decade.” (Hector Tobar - Los Angeles Times)
前言/序言
市场迷局:资本洪流下的博弈与幻象 一部深入剖析现代金融体系运作机制、揭示权力边界与信息不对称的非虚构巨著。 本书并非聚焦于单一市场的特定事件,而是以宏大的历史视角和敏锐的社会洞察力,勾勒出全球资本流动、金融创新与监管困境交织而成的复杂图景。它探讨的,是每一次交易背后潜藏的逻辑、看不见的力量,以及普通投资者在信息巨塔面前的无力感。 第一部分:透明度之下的暗流——资本的迁徙与速度的统治 本书伊始,便将读者带入一个由毫秒和微秒构筑的超速世界。我们看到的金融市场,是屏幕上跳动的数字和熟悉的指数曲线,然而,在这些表象之下,是一股股驱动全球经济命脉的无形力量。 一、新时代的“炼金术”:算法的崛起与人类的退场 金融的演进从未停歇,从早期的口头喊价到电子化交易,每一步都伴随着效率的提升和参与者的更迭。本书细致描绘了量化交易——这种基于复杂数学模型和高速计算机系统的交易模式——是如何从华尔街的边缘试验,迅速成长为市场的主导力量。 我们审视了算法如何吞噬了传统的“基于经验的交易智慧”。这些算法,由顶尖的数学家、物理学家和计算机科学家设计,它们能够以远超人脑的速度分析海量数据,并在市场尚未完全反应过来之前,完成买入或卖出的决策。这不仅仅是速度的竞争,更是对市场情绪和未来走势的“预判式”编程。书中探讨了这种模式对市场结构带来的根本性改变:流动性似乎无处不在,但危机爆发时,流动性却可能瞬间蒸发,留下被算法洪流冲刷后的废墟。 二、信息鸿沟的加剧:谁拥有了“先知”的视角? 信息,是金融市场的血液。过去,信息优势可能来自于内部消息或卓越的分析能力。但在今天,信息优势被重新定义——它不再仅仅关乎“拥有什么信息”,而更关乎“以何种速度获取信息”以及“如何解读信息中的细微偏差”。 本书深入剖析了基础设施对金融权力分配的影响。光纤的铺设、服务器的地理位置、甚至电磁波的传播路径,都成为了决定交易盈亏的关键因素。对于那些能够投资数十亿资金在优化物理连接上的机构而言,他们购买的不是股票或债券,而是时间——极其宝贵、近乎无限小的“时间差”。这种对速度的追求,在无形中构建了一道高耸的壁垒,将普通投资者和中小型机构隔绝在信息流的下游。 我们探讨了这种速度优势如何演变成一种“结构性优势”,它使得少数参与者能够持续地从市场中榨取微小的、几乎无法察觉的利润,这种利润的积累,最终汇聚成巨大的财富帝国。 第二部分:监管的滞后与权力的新边界 金融的创新速度,总是遥遥领先于监管的反应速度。本书的第二个核心议题,便是对现代金融监管框架的深刻反思。 三、看不见的风险:系统性脆弱性的蔓延 当市场交易被封装在复杂的衍生品和高频模型之中时,风险的累积变得更加隐蔽。本书剖析了这些创新工具如何在看似独立的交易中,编织成一个相互关联的巨大网络。单个节点的故障,可能通过复杂的杠杆和对冲机制,迅速传导至整个系统。 我们审视了那些在危机爆发后才被世人知晓的金融工程,以及它们如何在“无风险”的理论包装下,播下了系统性风险的种子。监管机构的挑战在于,他们必须理解这些技术,才能有效规制它们,而技术的复杂性本身,已经成为监管的巨大障碍。 四、利益的交织:市场参与者与规则制定者的微妙关系 金融业的庞大体量和对经济稳定的关键作用,使其拥有了强大的游说能力和对政策制定的深刻影响力。本书没有停留在对华尔街的道德谴责,而是客观地分析了这种权力结构是如何形成的。 通过对政策制定过程中各种声音的梳理,本书揭示了在金融“效率”与金融“公平”之间,权力是如何倾向于前者。那些定义市场规则的人,往往也是那些从现有规则中获利最大的人。我们探讨了“旋转门”现象如何模糊了公权与私利的界限,以及为什么一些显而易见的市场弊端,在多年后依然难以被有效遏制。 第三部分:重构信任——个体在巨兽面前的未来 在速度、复杂性和信息不对称构筑的迷宫中,个体投资者和小型机构的处境如何?本书的最后部分,试图从更广阔的社会经济角度,审视金融现代化的深远影响。 五、效率的悖论:市场是更有效率了,还是更不公平了? 金融技术的发展,无疑提升了资本配置的速度和广度,降低了传统交易的成本。但本书提出了一个核心的悖论:这种效率的提升,是否仅仅服务于那些已经占据制高点的参与者? 当我们谈论市场效率时,我们通常指的是价格能够迅速反映所有已知信息。但如果信息的获取和处理能力本身就是被垄断的资源,那么这种“有效价格”是否只是一种由少数精英共同构建的幻象?本书挑战了“自由市场万能”的传统叙事,提醒读者警惕一种新的、技术驱动的精英主义的形成。 六、重建信仰:对金融的认知与重塑 本书的结论并非呼吁回归前电子时代,而是倡导一种更具批判性的参与态度。它鼓励读者超越屏幕上的价格波动,去理解驱动这些波动的底层架构、技术逻辑和权力制衡。 最终,对金融体系的理解,关乎我们对现代社会的整体认知。它迫使我们直面一个问题:在一个由算法驱动、速度决定一切的时代,我们如何确保金融系统仍然服务于实体经济的健康发展,而不是沦为少数人进行财富转移的精密机器? 这部作品,是一面映照当代资本主义复杂性的棱镜,它揭示了市场的真实面貌——一个由速度、代码和不平等的权力结构所统治的、不断演进的竞技场。它要求我们重新思考,在追求极致效率的道路上,我们究竟牺牲了什么,又该如何夺回对金融未来的话语权。