Once upon a time, Wall Street was a bustling marketplace. Today, it’s more like a high-speed machine—an automated system designed to cater to the biggest players while sidelining smaller investors. The dominance of bots and algorithmic trading in the stock market is no longer a secret. Estimates indicate that over 70 percent of daily trading volume is driven not by human intuition, but by computers reacting to micro-movements in price and market sentiment within milliseconds. If you believe that thoughtful strategy drives the market, think again. It’s all about speed.

This transformation has reshaped market behavior entirely. Stocks can soar or plummet in seconds, often for illogical reasons, triggered by automated trades. We’ve witnessed “flash crashes” that erase billions in minutes before a brief recovery. Companies can lose 30 percent of their market value instantly due to a trading program misinterpreting a news headline. This isn’t investing; it’s high-speed digital gambling.

Yet, financial elites defend this as “market evolution” or “efficiency.” Let’s call it what it is: legalized manipulation. These systems disregard real value, earnings, or people. They thrive on movement—any movement—because that translates to profit. Their gains come from exploiting volatility, not fostering long-term wealth. The system rewards those with the fastest cables and the most computing power, sidelining those who understand economics or company fundamentals.

So, who benefits? A small circle of hedge funds and high-frequency trading firms, most of whom operate behind the scenes. These groups rent microwave towers to shave milliseconds off trade times and place servers next to stock exchange computers to leap ahead of your orders before you even hit “submit.” They employ algorithmic strategies—like spoofing and layering—that would seem fraudulent to the average person but are labeled “complex strategies” by Wall Street insiders.

Meanwhile, everyday investors face a market that feels rigged, and they’re right. Price movements are nonsensical these days: stocks rise when earnings fall and markets drop on good news. Prices swing wildly without any economic rationale. Why? Because we’ve shifted from a market driven by long-term conviction to one driven by machines chasing momentum and headlines crafted by bots.

This is why market sell-offs now happen faster than ever. In the past, fear spread over days or weeks. Today, one algorithm can trigger a selling wave, causing thousands of programs to follow suit within seconds. Panic is hardwired into the system, and volatility is not accidental; it’s embedded in the design.

Regulators are aware of this, but they move at a snail’s pace—slow, inconsistent, and easily swayed by political pressure. The Securities and Exchange Commission holds hearings, identifies a few bad actors, and then retreats. Why? Because too many powerful institutions depend on this system for profit. And where there’s profit, there’s political protection.

This isn’t a free market; it’s a controlled system that punishes discipline and rewards exploitation. It gives an unfair edge to those with tools the average American will never access, leaving retirement savers and long-term investors vulnerable to chaotic swings they didn’t initiate. While financial elites dismiss it as “liquidity,” average people see it for what it is—cheating.

But here’s the truth Wall Street doesn’t want you to know: this system only thrives if you play its game. It survives on reaction and feeds on emotion. Yet, bots can’t outlast patience. Algorithms can’t time long-term value, and high-frequency traders can’t thwart wealth built through steady, principled investing. Their power is confined to the short term, winning only if you try to trade like them.

In these times, individual investors must reclaim the discipline that built real wealth for generations—own strong companies, ignore daily noise, refuse to panic, and invest based on conviction rather than chaos. In a market manipulated by high-speed trading machines, conviction becomes your competitive advantage. Fundamentals still matter: real earnings, debt levels, cash flow, and leadership integrity remain critical. No bot can alter that.

However, investors cannot stay silent. We must demand accountability and pressure lawmakers to address market manipulation disguised as “innovation.” We must insist that financial systems serve people, not the other way around. The market was never intended to be a casino for the elite; it was meant to be a space where hard-working Americans could invest for retirement and provide for their families.

For those of us who follow Christ and believe in stewardship, we cannot simply shrug it off. We are called to manage the resources entrusted to us wisely, courageously, and with integrity. Proverbs 13:11 states, “Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.” This is the remedy for our broken system: patience over panic, honesty over hype, and truth over manipulation. Machines may trade faster, but they cannot outlast faithfulness over time.

The market may be rigged in the short term, but long-term stewardship will always prevail. It always has, and it always will.