Wall Street used to be a marketplace. Today, it behaves more like a machine. Not just any machine but a high-speed, automated system built to serve the biggest players in the field while pushing smaller investors further to the margins. It is no longer a secret that bots and algorithmic trading now dominate the stock market. Estimates suggest that more than 70 percent of daily trading volume is driven not by human decision-making, but by computers reacting to micro-movements in price and market sentiment in milliseconds. That means that if you think thoughtful strategy drives the market, think again. Speed does.
This shift has changed everything about how markets behave. Stocks can now skyrocket or collapse in seconds, sometimes not for logical reasons, but because software triggered a chain reaction of automated trades. We’ve seen “flash crashes” wipe out billions in minutes before reversing. We’ve seen companies lose 30 percent of their market value instantly because some trading programs misread a news headline. This isn’t investing. It’s digital gambling at high speed.
And yet, the elites in finance defend it as “market evolution” or “efficiency.” Let’s call it what it is: legalized manipulation. These systems don’t care about real value, real earnings, or real people. They care about movement, any movement, because movement means money. Their profits come from exploiting volatility, not building long-term wealth. It is a system that rewards those who own the fastest cables and the most computing power, not those who understand economics or company fundamentals.
So, who benefits from all this? A tiny circle of hedge funds and high-frequency trading firms, most of whom hide quietly behind the scenes. These groups rent microwave towers to shave milliseconds off trade time. They locate servers next to stock exchange computers to jump ahead of your order before you even hit “submit.” They use algorithmic strategies designed to trick the market, such as spoofing, layering, and pinging for hidden orders. These tactics would look like fraud to a regular person but are labeled “complex strategies” by Wall Street insiders...
In times like these, individual investors must reclaim the discipline that built real wealth for generations -- own strong companies, ignore daily noise, refuse to panic and invest according to conviction instead of chaos. In a market manipulated by high-speed trading machines, conviction is your competitive advantage. Fundamentals still matter. Real earnings still matter. Debt levels, cash flow, and leadership integrity still matter. No bot can change that.
But let me say this clearly: investors cannot remain silent. We must also demand accountability. We must pressure lawmakers to call out market manipulation disguised as “innovation.” We must insist that financial systems serve people, not the other way around. The market was never meant to be a casino for the elite. It was meant to be a place where hard-working Americans could build a future, invest for retirement, and provide for their families.
And now the stewardship piece. For those of us who follow Christ and believe He cares about how we handle money, we don’t get to shrug our shoulders and retreat. We are called to steward what God has placed in our hands, wisely, courageously and with integrity. Proverbs 13:11 says, “Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.” That is the antidote to this broken system: patience over panic, honesty over hype, truth over manipulation. Machines can trade faster, but they cannot outlast faithfulness over time.
The market may be rigged in the short term, but long-term stewardship still wins. Always has. Always will.
