Whenever a flash crash strikes some major financial asset, blame inevitably falls first on robots. Observers naturally assume that humans couldn’t orchestrate such cataclysmic price dives – such as the British pound’s 40-second, 9 percent plunge in early October, which early reports pinned on computer programs. It must be the algos, the anonymous swarms of senseless automatons that quietly rule the markets, behind these staggering market implosions. But after some time goes by, there’s almost always some sentient, warm-blooded creature who ends up taking some credit for big price jolts. In the case of the recent ... (full story)