The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed, in its entirety and without leave to amend, a second set of High-Frequency Trading cases, this one a series of putative securities class action complaints brought against several national stock exchanges, including the Chicago Stock Exchange, represented by Levine Lee LLP. In the four consolidated cases against the stock exchanges, the plaintiffs brought claims under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; these cases were made part of a multidistrict litigation action that involved additional claims and actions against Barclays. Plaintiffs’ lawsuits were filed shortly after the publishing of Michael Lewis’ book Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt, in which Mr. Lewis argued that high-frequency traders gain an unfair advantage in the stock markets. Today, the Court granted the Exchanges’ motion to dismiss, concluding that, among other things, Plaintiffs’ claims failed to state a violation under the securities laws.

Seth L. Levine and Christos G. Papapetrou worked on the matter. The consolidated case is In re: Barclays Liquidity Cross and High Frequency Trading Litigation, 14-MD-2589 (JMF) in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.