Copyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST: The U.S. government wants to extradite a stock trader from the U.K. The U.S. says his activities helped trigger the flash crash of 2010. That's when the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell nearly a thousand points in mere minutes. The plunge was sudden and deep because so many stock trades are now done by computers that decide on their own to buy or sell. That reminded us of someone we first met a few years ago on this program, one of the fathers of electronic trading. Planet Money's David Kestenbaum brought us that profile as he set out to learn how computers ended up controlling so much of the market. DAVID KESTENBAUM, BYLINE: Thomas Peterffy grew up in Hungary after World War II. His first experience with trading happened when he was around 12. A friend went across the border to Austria and brought back something truly precious. THOMAS PETERFFY: Juicy Fruit Gum - these were beautiful, yellow Juicy Fruit (laughter) Gum sticks.
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