New York cousins Vincent Zaleski (Jesse Eisenberg) and Anton Zaleski (Alexander Skarsgård) are a pair of high frequency traders, in which every millisecond could mean a difference of millions.

Determined to beat their old boss Eva Torres (Salma Hayek) at getting stock market quotes faster, they come up with a way to get them in 16 milliseconds—one millisecond faster than everyone else. They estimate that would earn them roughly $500 million per year.

However, Eva isn't one to take that lying down. She knows what the two are up to and she prepares to devise a way to ruin their plans.