“It is estimated that in Italy as well more than 50 percent of equity trading volume is generated by algorithms. On the buy side we are at around 40 percent. Quantitative systems, such as HFT, execution algos, market making, statistical models, and now AI-driven models, increase systemic risk by limiting traditional operators' ability to take the opposite side of trades, which are essentially short-term trend followers and subject to continuous reversals". Vittorio de Pedys, president of the public business Simest and a university professor, made this statement during the Trento Economics Festival. "The increase in short-term volatility, heavily influenced by the latest news, is evident, and we have to live with it", he said. "In the long run, however, volatility is merely a higher cost of participation, but it does not diminish the ability, when it exists, to independently appraise trends and possibilities. I favor long-term measures for this reason. The outcomes of several years have so far shown me correct". Regarding the existing structure of financial markets, de Pedys underlined that "European markets are not the same as American ones, and the proliferation of trading venues, far from improving the search for best execution, has only led to a loss of liquidity and a fragmentation of trading".