Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt

What qualities, aside from being nice and Canadian, make Brad Katsuyama a compelling protagonist and a worthy leader of the project that would become IEX?

What qualities make Ronan Ryan an effective counterpart to Katsuyama? At what points does he most clearly show his value to the project? 

What evidence does Lewis present to argue that Wall Street is corrupt to its core? How does he use tone, diction, and syntax to argue this point? Lewis’s Is his argument compelling? If so, what are the fundamental causes, and if not, what is the evidence for a more optimistic view than the one presented in the book?

How does Lewis’s presentation of Aleynikov differ from Aleynikov’s public presentation at the time of his trial? What does Lewis’s frequent use of juxtaposition between Goldman Sachs and Aleynikov suggest about the powerful elite of Wall Street?

Do you accept Lewis’s view that the leaders of IEX were mainly acting out of principle, a desire to make Wall Street more transparent? Is there any evidence to support a more cynical interpretation, like the ones rumored by their competitors?

Lewis frequently mentions the September 11 attacks throughout the book. What common themes can we draw from the various individuals who either experienced or were shaped by the attacks? How are their experiences of 9/11 tied to their involvement in IEX?

Why do you think that Goldman Sachs came to IEX’s assistance in December 2013? Was it a self-interested calculation by two individual groups, or does it signal the possibility of a cultural shift on Wall Street?

How does the theory provided by Lewis’s impromptu jury differ from the mainstream view of Aleynikov’s crimes? What different morals, values, and views on accountability do the two different theories tacitly endorse?