The Financial Post reports in its Thursday, April 24, edition that the impact of high frequency trading on Canadian markets will be assessed in the final stage of a long-term study by the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada. An unbylined item in the Post reports that IIROC expects to have completed this analysis, led by two groups of North American academics, by the end of 2014. One group will study the impact of high-frequency trading on liquidity provided across markets, on risk management, and on information transmission to determine "if HFT firms are integrating markets and whether or not their activities are beneficial," IIROC said. The second group will focus on the effects of short-selling by high-frequency traders and other market players on market liquidity, stability, price efficiency and price discovery. The groups will have access to secure and "masked" information for the period between Jan. 1, 2012, and June 30, 2013. The Post notes that high-frequency trading has blossomed in recent years, enabled by extremely fast computer-driven transactions and the proliferation of alternative trading systems that compete with traditional stock exchanges.