Twenty Minutes is an eternity on Wall Street; The story of one Knight

It has long been known among regulars on Wall Street that live real time trading is very different than "delayed" information. In fact, thirty years ago it cost a small fortune to get real live data...but I date myself. One of the most exciting times to trade with live data is the first half hour of trading, when orders from around the world have bunched up over the hours when the exchange is closed, and all begin trading. In fact, it is during this early fifteen minutes that there is the "exception" to the normal circuit breakers that prevent wild swings on the exchanges. Leave it to the program traders to design an algorithm to exploit this weakness---and you have what occured last week with Knight Investments debacle, when an error in their program issued a weeks worth of buy orders all at once. In the end, the firm was 200 + million short and looking for a rescue from someone. Ya think we might have gone too far when the model announcers on the Wall Street channels are talking of "straddle" trades or currency plays that they dimly understand the ramifications of, and indeed should be prevented from even suggesting to innocent investors. Options always were for seasoned investors and serious traders, and were never meant, in my view, for anyone who needed something stronger than a light beer.