China is tightening regulatory restrictions on its rapidly booming quant trading industry, after freezing the accounts of a major player in the sector for three days in a rare crackdown. The stock exchanges of key financial hubs Shanghai and Shenzhen issued notices late Tuesday announcing they will deepen their scrutiny of market trades conducted by quant funds — which use advanced computer-driven automated analysis and algorithms to catch opportunities in stocks and commodities — especially of leveraged quantitative products, according to separate Google-translated statements. The bourses will strengthen and expand the scope of reporting of such trades and improve the monitoring standards for "abnormal" transactions. The Shenzhen stock exchange also noted that "quantitative trading, especially high-frequency trading, has obvious technical, information and speed advantages over small and medium-sized investors." The announcements come after both exchanges implemented a three-day trading ban on one of China's largest quant funds, Lingjun Investment, which the Shanghai bourse accused of "affecting the security of the Exchange's system or normal trading order" with a flurry of transactions executed between 09:30 a.m. and 09:31 a.m. local time, according to a Google-translated statement.

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Organizations: Lingjun, Shanghai bourse Locations: China, Shanghai, Shenzhen