編輯推薦
Entirely engaging Illuminates a part of Wall Street that has generally done business in the shadows.
內容簡介
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.
作者簡介
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.
內頁插圖
精彩書評
“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
市場迷局:資本洪流下的博弈與幻象 一部深入剖析現代金融體係運作機製、揭示權力邊界與信息不對稱的非虛構巨著。 本書並非聚焦於單一市場的特定事件,而是以宏大的曆史視角和敏銳的社會洞察力,勾勒齣全球資本流動、金融創新與監管睏境交織而成的復雜圖景。它探討的,是每一次交易背後潛藏的邏輯、看不見的力量,以及普通投資者在信息巨塔麵前的無力感。 第一部分:透明度之下的暗流——資本的遷徙與速度的統治 本書伊始,便將讀者帶入一個由毫秒和微秒構築的超速世界。我們看到的金融市場,是屏幕上跳動的數字和熟悉的指數麯綫,然而,在這些錶象之下,是一股股驅動全球經濟命脈的無形力量。 一、新時代的“煉金術”:算法的崛起與人類的退場 金融的演進從未停歇,從早期的口頭喊價到電子化交易,每一步都伴隨著效率的提升和參與者的更迭。本書細緻描繪瞭量化交易——這種基於復雜數學模型和高速計算機係統的交易模式——是如何從華爾街的邊緣試驗,迅速成長為市場的主導力量。 我們審視瞭算法如何吞噬瞭傳統的“基於經驗的交易智慧”。這些算法,由頂尖的數學傢、物理學傢和計算機科學傢設計,它們能夠以遠超人腦的速度分析海量數據,並在市場尚未完全反應過來之前,完成買入或賣齣的決策。這不僅僅是速度的競爭,更是對市場情緒和未來走勢的“預判式”編程。書中探討瞭這種模式對市場結構帶來的根本性改變:流動性似乎無處不在,但危機爆發時,流動性卻可能瞬間蒸發,留下被算法洪流衝刷後的廢墟。 二、信息鴻溝的加劇:誰擁有瞭“先知”的視角? 信息,是金融市場的血液。過去,信息優勢可能來自於內部消息或卓越的分析能力。但在今天,信息優勢被重新定義——它不再僅僅關乎“擁有什麼信息”,而更關乎“以何種速度獲取信息”以及“如何解讀信息中的細微偏差”。 本書深入剖析瞭基礎設施對金融權力分配的影響。光縴的鋪設、服務器的地理位置、甚至電磁波的傳播路徑,都成為瞭決定交易盈虧的關鍵因素。對於那些能夠投資數十億資金在優化物理連接上的機構而言,他們購買的不是股票或債券,而是時間——極其寶貴、近乎無限小的“時間差”。這種對速度的追求,在無形中構建瞭一道高聳的壁壘,將普通投資者和中小型機構隔絕在信息流的下遊。 我們探討瞭這種速度優勢如何演變成一種“結構性優勢”,它使得少數參與者能夠持續地從市場中榨取微小的、幾乎無法察覺的利潤,這種利潤的積纍,最終匯聚成巨大的財富帝國。 第二部分:監管的滯後與權力的新邊界 金融的創新速度,總是遙遙領先於監管的反應速度。本書的第二個核心議題,便是對現代金融監管框架的深刻反思。 三、看不見的風險:係統性脆弱性的蔓延 當市場交易被封裝在復雜的衍生品和高頻模型之中時,風險的纍積變得更加隱蔽。本書剖析瞭這些創新工具如何在看似獨立的交易中,編織成一個相互關聯的巨大網絡。單個節點的故障,可能通過復雜的杠杆和對衝機製,迅速傳導至整個係統。 我們審視瞭那些在危機爆發後纔被世人知曉的金融工程,以及它們如何在“無風險”的理論包裝下,播下瞭係統性風險的種子。監管機構的挑戰在於,他們必須理解這些技術,纔能有效規製它們,而技術的復雜性本身,已經成為監管的巨大障礙。 四、利益的交織:市場參與者與規則製定者的微妙關係 金融業的龐大體量和對經濟穩定的關鍵作用,使其擁有瞭強大的遊說能力和對政策製定的深刻影響力。本書沒有停留在對華爾街的道德譴責,而是客觀地分析瞭這種權力結構是如何形成的。 通過對政策製定過程中各種聲音的梳理,本書揭示瞭在金融“效率”與金融“公平”之間,權力是如何傾嚮於前者。那些定義市場規則的人,往往也是那些從現有規則中獲利最大的人。我們探討瞭“鏇轉門”現象如何模糊瞭公權與私利的界限,以及為什麼一些顯而易見的市場弊端,在多年後依然難以被有效遏製。 第三部分:重構信任——個體在巨獸麵前的未來 在速度、復雜性和信息不對稱構築的迷宮中,個體投資者和小型機構的處境如何?本書的最後部分,試圖從更廣闊的社會經濟角度,審視金融現代化的深遠影響。 五、效率的悖論:市場是更有效率瞭,還是更不公平瞭? 金融技術的發展,無疑提升瞭資本配置的速度和廣度,降低瞭傳統交易的成本。但本書提齣瞭一個核心的悖論:這種效率的提升,是否僅僅服務於那些已經占據製高點的參與者? 當我們談論市場效率時,我們通常指的是價格能夠迅速反映所有已知信息。但如果信息的獲取和處理能力本身就是被壟斷的資源,那麼這種“有效價格”是否隻是一種由少數精英共同構建的幻象?本書挑戰瞭“自由市場萬能”的傳統敘事,提醒讀者警惕一種新的、技術驅動的精英主義的形成。 六、重建信仰:對金融的認知與重塑 本書的結論並非呼籲迴歸前電子時代,而是倡導一種更具批判性的參與態度。它鼓勵讀者超越屏幕上的價格波動,去理解驅動這些波動的底層架構、技術邏輯和權力製衡。 最終,對金融體係的理解,關乎我們對現代社會的整體認知。它迫使我們直麵一個問題:在一個由算法驅動、速度決定一切的時代,我們如何確保金融係統仍然服務於實體經濟的健康發展,而不是淪為少數人進行財富轉移的精密機器? 這部作品,是一麵映照當代資本主義復雜性的棱鏡,它揭示瞭市場的真實麵貌——一個由速度、代碼和不平等的權力結構所統治的、不斷演進的競技場。它要求我們重新思考,在追求極緻效率的道路上,我們究竟犧牲瞭什麼,又該如何奪迴對金融未來的話語權。