JAPAN plans to tighten regulations on high-frequency trading (HFT), whose growing presence in the Tokyo Stock Exchange has raised concerns such trades could destabilize the market and put retail investors at a disadvantage.

    Regulators in Europe and elsewhere are also placing high-frequency traders, who use ultra-fast computers to automatically place trades, under closer scrutiny as they have been blamed for accentuating market volatility.

    Japan’s market regulator, the Financial Services Agency, made public yesterday its plan to require high-frequency traders to register and to ensure proper risk management measures are in place.

    HFT accounted for 70 percent of orders placed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2016, the Financial Services Agency said.

    “It is not appropriate to eliminate all algorithmic fast trading from the Japanese market as it includes the kind that contributes to smooth market transactions,” the Financial Services Agency said. (SD-Agencies)