Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt is a book by the American writer Michael Lewis, published by W. W. Norton & Company on March 31, 2014. The book is a non-fiction investigation into the phenomenon of high-frequency trading (HFT) in the US financial market, with the author interviewing and collecting the experiences of several individuals working on Wall Street. Lewis concludes that HFT is used as a method to front run orders placed by investors. He goes further to suggest that broad technological changes and unethical trading practices have transformed the U.S. stock market from "the world's most public, most democratic, financial market" into a "rigged" market.
This was a very enlightening book on the financial market. Lewis does a great job in telling the story of how a group of individuals uncovered the truth about how the markets are geared for those with special access and privileges, at the expense of ordinary investors, including those whose savings are managed within pension funds.
