To everyone pointing out that you need an edge to trade successfully, you can’t beat HFT guys with this etc etc...this is a tool for dumb money. Just look at casinos, they make billions from dumb money. Just because you can’t beat hft traders with this doesn’t mean there isn’t demand for a tool like this. People will buy this so they are making it.
I agree with you, but if this is the case, isn't it a bit sad that YC funded something like this (or, equivalent, allowed the pivot into it)? Would YC fund a casino?
Well yes, I guess I should add that I don’t mean to say this is a “good” idea. I mean it’s a good idea in the sense that people will probably buy it, but bad in the sense that, like gambling, people probably shouldn’t use it.
Of course the people making it don’t want to believe it’s bad and I’m sure can cite statistics and use cases and whatever that aren’t to exploit dumb money. But it’s pretty clear that’s what it is.
While I agree with what you and others are saying, I just want to point out on the generous interpretation, there’s a good chance the people at YC aren’t aware of this. Possible (but less likely) that the companies founders aren’t aware of this also. There’s a lot of naive tech industry people who dive into financial markets thinking they’re like other areas that are waiting for a startup to ‘disrupt’ them - they’re not.
Yes I agree with you 100%. I didn’t mean to condone their actions, just to point out that this is clearly not designed to beat hft, it’s designed to make a profit off of dumb money, and the more interesting debate is whether that’s morally wrong or not. Debating about strategy and hft is a distraction from the real debate which is: should YC fund a company like this?
I don’t doubt that this company can make money, and probably a lot of it. But should they?
