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Fastest guys in stocks are becoming a force in currencies

Electronic market makers have more than tripled foreign-exchange volumes over the last three years

New York

HIGH-SPEED electronic market making, already widespread in stocks, is getting a grudging welcome from currency markets. They don't have much choice.

Algorithmic traders have more than tripled foreign-exchange volumes over the last three years, seizing opportunities as Wall Street banks withdraw from currency dealing, according to Aite Group, a consultant in Boston. The new group of market makers is trading almost US$200 billion a day. While that may seem small in the context of the sprawling global currency market, consider this for perspective: Stock trading on all US exchanges totals about US$270 billion a day.

From Citadel Securities LLC, which boosted foreign-exchange volumes 83 per...

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