Yuji Honkawa knew the humans were losing by April 2010. No matter how fast he sent orders to be filled at the Tokyo Stock Exchange, a machine beat him.
Unemployed after 20 years dealing in equities at seven different brokerages, the 47-year-old Honkawa watched as the market sped up and automated traders went from generating 10 percent of orders at the start of 2010 to as much as 72 percent last year. Among the men and women he competed with to get prices for clients, 80 percent have left the industry, he estimates.
"It's kind of like the Terminator," Honkawa said in an interview. "The story is about humans and machines battling it out, and in the end the machines exterminate all the humans."