Fighting the HFT algos... daytraders and floor traders vs. HFT traders

Quote from PocketChange:

HFT and algorithmic traders are little threat or competition for the discretionary trader. If anything they may add liquidity and are a far better counter party than your broker.

For those complaining about front running... Just look at your broker agreements... Many of you agree to allow your broker to be counter party to your trades.

#1. They provide your data feed.
#2. Orders go through their execution platform
#3. They have full knowledge of your entire account & trading history.
#4. For non exchange supported order types/ ie trailing stops. they manage these trades.
#5. They provide margin and manage your credit line.
#6. You have authorized them to selectively trade against you and pay them commissions for the opportunity to be your competitor.
#7. They can reject orders and freeze your account at will.

This isn't a rant against brokers... Just realize who all is seeing your cards at the poker table.
yea some of these babies dont realize that the biggest baddest hft algo they are going against is usually their brokers internalization engine.
 
Quote from candletrader:

Remember folks, when we are talking about HFT we are talking about very fast machines.... only machines can exploit a few milliseconds latency advantage in order to, in effect, front-run key levels...

The idea previously posted of west coast traders having a disadvantage vs east coast traders, where all traders in question are human, is a non-issue...


Candle, you simply do not understand physics or HFT for that matter.
 
Quote from propseeker:
it doesn't stop there though. you don't need to have access to fancy algos to play this game. the exchanges actually provide the tools for anyone to be a subsecond cxl/replacer with order types like the peg. what does a pegged order do? it continuously updates your limit order to mirror the nbbo and whatever offset you decide to give it. so, if you want to have an insta-penny bot from home, just send a pegged order with +.01 offset to the bid on some illiquid stock, and watch the exchange algo get into a penny war with someone else. since it's exchange based, not even the colos can compete in speed.

You are my favorite poster here...

But paying for access in terms of latency...
Is a huge revenue stream for exchanges...
So any free auto-peg thing...
Would lose every single race every time...
Against ANY Big Player paying $$$ for access.

And in terms of "illiquid stocks"...
You're not usually competing against Big Players...
Because low liquidity does not scale up to large Funds...
So latency is not a big issue...
And you're not fighting for pennies...
But more like laying back and capturing nickels.
 
Has anyone here had success with peg orders?

Every time I try it, I always get a bad fill.

I think that the problem is that peg orders are given lower priority at the exchange. So, yes, they will auto bump to match the NBO, but they will always be at the back of the queue for the price level.

A HFT can do the same thing with limit orders. The limit orders get higher priority and will get filled before yours even if your order was first.
 
It seems to me like what is unfair is not algorithmic trading itself (after all, anyone can learn to program and come up with a strategy), but the fact that some are able to execute trades with less latency than the public could ever hope to achieve. The quality of the algorithm should be the edge, not the quality and location of the hardware.

Just brainstorming here, but perhaps the exchange itself should host all HFT collocation, and assign orders (or cancellations of orders) in a random sequence to all simultaneous requests (for example, on a change in price data). This way the public could write algorithms and expect identical latency to GS and others. Thoughts?
 
Quote from DeeDeeTwo:

You are my favorite poster here...

But paying for access in terms of latency...
Is a huge revenue stream for exchanges...
So any free auto-peg thing...
Would lose every single race every time...
Against ANY Big Player paying $$$ for access.

And in terms of "illiquid stocks"...
You're not usually competing against Big Players...
Because low liquidity does not scale up to large Funds...
So latency is not a big issue...
And you're not fighting for pennies...
But more like laying back and capturing nickels.
i agree with you...

my point was the scope of algorithmic trading is huge and what people are supposing to be hft can be something as simple as the peg example i gave.
 
The only problem I have with "HFT" is being able to trade in fractions of a penny and quote stuffing, and possibly that the big firms have the best location in a cage at a colo site. Otherwise, who cares?
 
Quote from Rod Shaft:

It seems to me like what is unfair is not algorithmic trading itself (after all, anyone can learn to program and come up with a strategy), but the fact that some are able to execute trades with less latency than the public could ever hope to achieve. The quality of the algorithm should be the edge, not the quality and location of the hardware.

Just brainstorming here, but perhaps the exchange itself should host all HFT collocation, and assign orders (or cancellations of orders) in a random sequence to all simultaneous requests (for example, on a change in price data). This way the public could write algorithms and expect identical latency to GS and others. Thoughts?
why does, 'the public' need to trade with low latency?

have you ever attempted to quantify latency costs? for you? for the public?

i'd recommend answering those questions first, before assessing fairness.

(hint: for 99% of traders and the public in general, it's not significant.)
 
I am a newbie....and I have a question...

Exchanges were built to bring in transparency....Dark Pools were subsequently built to circumvent that...

HFT has a cause, greater efficiency....but isn't submitting hundreds of thousands of orders just to find market pressure points or other algo reasons....a bit carrying it too far...

Aren't the toolsets created to bring in a few efficiencies, becoming our reasons to trade...

I mean, look at both the above examples....I am sure there are many others you guys can point out.....the road seems to be becoming the destination!!

Sanjay.
 
Quote from Rod Shaft:



Just brainstorming here, but perhaps the exchange itself should host all HFT collocation, and assign orders (or cancellations of orders) in a random sequence to all simultaneous requests (for example, on a change in price data). This way the public could write algorithms and expect identical latency to GS and others. Thoughts?

its competition. you shouldn't handicap someone just because they are better than you.
 
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