The SEC will host a roundtable discussion today on high frequency trading.  We were honored by an invitation to take a seat at the table.  Initially, we were a little concerned about the seat that was offered to Sal.  It seemed that the table was not that round and in fact was a bit lop-sided.  Senator Kaufman also thought the table needed some balancing and said so on the Senate floor last week http://kaufman.senate.gov/press/floor_statements/statement/?id=2dce87f0-a504-4d66-a8d2-e44eed3bdf96 He called on the SEC to make those panels more balanced by adding individuals from outside of Wall Street.  He succeeded in his quest and the SEC has rearranged some of the panels.  We feel much better about Sal’s seat now and we just hope he doesn’t spill the pitcher of water.  Senator Kaufman also did have these kind words to say: “The SEC has picked one voice for the panel, Sal Arnuk of Themis Trading, who has been a vocal and intelligent critic of high frequency trading. He has valiantly raised questions about market structure and the trading advantages that high frequency traders enjoy.”  Captain Fantastic strikes again. 

We thought today would also be a good day to explain why we named our firm, Themis Trading.  When we started the firm 8 years ago, lots of firms were using the mythological theme.  We started searching around and stumbled on Themis.  Themis was the Goddess of Justice (the picture above depicts Themis).   Even though she is most often associated with the legal profession, we thought she represented how we wanted our firm to be viewed. The goal of our firm was to align ourselves with the buyside and represent their interests. We always believed that in the end fairness, trust and justice would win against greed and the short term mentality that many Wall Street brokers had built their business model around.  We expect that today Sal will prove that point at the roundtable.  If you are interested in watching the roundtable, you can view it at www.sec.gov or type “LIVE” and “GO” on your Bloomberg terminal.