The Great Debate

Those Magnificent Men
and Their Trading Machines
An ode to high-frequency trading
Lyrics by Benn Steil

Those magnificent men and their trading machines,
They trade up, diddly, up, up!
They trade down, diddly, down down!
*
They stuff lots of quotes, then they empty the screens,
With their up, diddly up, up!
And their down, diddly, down down!
*
Up! Down! Flashing around.
Pulling their quotes, at such speed they astound.
They’re, all, raking in green,
Those magnificent men and their trading machines!
*
They can trade upside down with their feet in the air,
They don’t think of value, they really don’t care.
Ben Graham he would think he had made a mistake,
To see those young men, and the profits they make!
*
Those magnificent men and their trading machines,
They trade up, diddly, up, up!
They trade down, diddly, down down!
*
They stuff lots of quotes, then they empty the screens,
With their up, diddly up, up!
And their down, diddly, down down!
*
Up! Down! Flashing around.
Pulling their quotes, at such speed they astound.
They’re, all, raking in green,
Those magnificent men,
Those magnificent men,
Those magnificent men,
And their tra-ding ma-chines!

Benn Steil is a senior fellow and director of International Economics at the Council on Foreign Relations. This is Benn’s take on the original song, “Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines,” which can be watched here. The opinions expressed are his own.