The impact of billions of financial transactions every day is not understood by ANYONE. Run away from anyone who wants your money and says they do.
On May 6th, 2010 the market experienced what was has been called a ‘flash crash’ – a huge sudden drop in market indexes supposedly caused by rapid automated trading on one mutual fund that might have triggered more rapid automated and manual selling. A Forbes article talking about a report published on this event can be found here, and further analysis here.
The vast, seemingly infinite trading practices and linkages and automation seem to make an ‘avalanche’ possible at any time. This is a dangerous thing and it is doubtful market regulators are adequately prepared for the near infinite speed and volumes involved!