Michael Lewis came face-to-face with one of the antagonists of his book on high-frequency debate on Tuesday.

The author of the new book “Flash Boys” got into a heated debate on live TV  with BATS Global Markets exchange president William O’Brien about the pros and cons of high-frequency trading and whether it ruins the markets for the retail investor.

On CNBC on Tuesday, Lewis accused HFTs of “rigging the market” and touted the new exchange IEX making a more even playing field.

“I think he is outrageous and part of the problem,” said Lewis pointing to the BATS president. “This is the heart of capitalism right now, the unfairness of the exchanges.”

Founder of IEX exchange, Brad Katsuyama, also joined the cast to battle out whether the high-frequency traders beats out the regular investor.

“I believe that the markets are rigged and I think you are part of the rigging,” said Katsuyama directly to O’Brien.

Katsuyama went onto the explain why traders should price trades more fairly. The exchanges view of the market is slower than some of their fastest participants, he said.

“Shame on both of you for falsely accusing thousands of people on wrongdoing…to try to build a business on fear, mistrust and accusations,” shot back O’Brien.

The CNBC debate follows a “60 minutes” interview in which Lewis accused the U.S. exchanges, including BATS, of being a key part of high-frequency traders ripping off the market by getting orders in before a trade is fully completed.

Bloomberg William OBrien, president of BATS Global Markets

O’Brien called the book “just a sales pitch for a business model” and that it was a “300-page commercial.”

Lewis also confirmed in the interview he is not an investor in IEX.

Twitter weighed in on the battle:

In other news: Goldman Sachs reportedly will no longer be on the New York Stock Exchange floor. The investment bank is planning to sell Spear, Leeds & Kellogg, a trading company it owns, according to report in the FT.com. But the firm will still provide a brokerage role and provide liquidity through the NYSE.

The New York Stock Exchange now owned by the IntercontinentalExchange Group Inc. /quotes/zigman/23571824/delayed /quotes/nls/ice ICE and Nasdaq OMX /quotes/zigman/86035/delayed /quotes/nls/ndaq NDAQ have yet to comment on the debate.

Sital S. Patel

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