Quote from StarDust9182:
I think this is because many people have never stopped to ask who is giving them money when they trade. In a world where reportedly 95% fail, it is a big ego push to assume they are just "smarter than everyone else". If they went to a casino and were "smarter than everyone else" I think that the results would be different long term. And then there are those who don't want to see the truth because of its implications to their own lives.
Great post. I have given up convincing people what HFT is doing. Those that know, know and those that don't will find out soon enough. I think it is going to get much much worse yet BTW.
I think the reason there is no clampdown is that we will eventually find out that the central banks buying securities are using HFT to do it. There simply is no reason that regulators would stand by without powerful interests forcing them to stay silent. It's similar to congress having insider trading powers when we don't.
Just reading through this thread when I noticed a quote from Ericp:
"Also, for what it's worth, I'm referring to 3 cents per share traded, so 6 cents per round turn trade. For example, you buy 200 shares at $20, and sell those 200 shares at $20.06 => You have made a gross profit of $12.00 and have traded a total of 400 shares, or 3 cents per share traded. Obviously, commissions and various fees (SEC, ECN, etc) will lower this a bit further."
Why would you choose to define cps as half the difference between you buy price and sell price?
Would the figure not make more sense if you used 200 shares?
Think in terms of a whole day. If you make $500 after trading 100k shares, you made a half cent per share (500/100000). This is an important stat if you know your costs, which for most is around the half cent mark.