Can balloons really enable HFT, or is it just hot air?

by Hugh Cumberland.

With the ability to support trading speeds up to 50% faster than fibre, you could be forgiven for thinking that microwave is the ultimate tool for high-frequency traders. But in the never ending hunt for competitive advantage, plans are being drawn up to squeeze even more advantage out of microwave technology. One provider has proposed a network of lighter-than-air balloons, capable of creating a transatlantic wireless trading route to transmit prices and executions across the Atlantic Ocean.