The House Always Wins
Let’s be honest, watching the market on a volatile day is like watching a particularly dramatic sporting event. There are winners, there are losers, and there is a great deal of shouting from the sidelines. Most people are fixated on the players, the stocks rocketing up or tumbling down. But to me, that’s missing the point. I’m far more interested in the people who own the stadium, sell the tickets, and take a cut of every bet placed.
When trading volumes spike, a whole ecosystem of companies quietly rakes it in, regardless of whether the market is soaring or plummeting. This whole phenomenon, which some are calling the Trading Volume Surge: What's Next for Brokerages?, is really just a modern take on an old story. The people selling the shovels during a gold rush tend to do rather well for themselves.