Question

Consider a stock that is sold on the New York Stock Exchange. If someone is Paris places a buy order and \(1 / 100\) of a second later someone in New York buys the same stock, which order is executed first?

Answer 1

\(\begin{aligned} \text { Speed of light in a vacuum } & \approx 300,000 \mathrm{~km} / \mathrm{sec} \\ & \approx 186,000 \mathrm{miles} / \mathrm{sec} \\ & \approx 1 \text { foot } / \mathrm{ns} \approx 1 \mathrm{~m} / 3.3 \mathrm{~ns} \quad(\mathrm{~ns}=\text { nanoseconds }) \\ & \approx 4,000 \mathrm{miles} / .0215 \mathrm{sec} \quad(3,625 \text { miles from Paris to New York }\end{aligned}\)