Quote from Clubber Lang:
HFT firms wouldn't pay millions of dollars a year to co-locate if it didn't give them a huge advantage.
That point is irrefutable.
Hence the playing field is NOT even for all participants.
Quote stuffing, sub pennying, predatory algo's, flash orders, etc etc. They are all profitable for HFT because they know they can't lose if they get filled.
Please explain how an HFT firm like Hudson River trading doesn't have a down day. EVER. (and this is not an exaggeration, they NEVER had a down day while they cleared through my old firm)
I have said before HFT is causing changes and I like all other such changes, will be eaten by something worse yet eventually (at which point expect the HFT people to squawk about unfair practices), I have to support Clubber's comments completely.
Clearly a national fair price can't exist where legislators allow one group (Deep pocket, co location, politicians) to get fills that most market participants CAN'T get while the captured regulators stand idlely by "studying things". These permitted cheats are impacting the entire market and like fish in the sea, when the little guys are all gone, soon after the big guys will be all gone as well. That is what zero sum means isn't it?
Market makers have the spread and price setting advantage. Why do they need the advantage of front running as well? The precise mechanism that they use is kind of moot. Clearly no one is playing a fair game when some players don't lose more a single day in a quarter. In a statistical universe, what are the odds of that happening quarter after quarter without something clearly wrong in a fair price?
The old days when market making allowed for some to detect monkey business and punish market makers sometimes, have changed to if no co-location and the right connections, no money for you!
On top of that, many little quys get their houses taken away, big guys get their bonuses paid (in some cases by the legislators), none of them end up in legal trouble for practices that seem fraudulent. Little fish are leaving the market in droves and far fewer are coming in to feed on.
Of course all of this will lead to a better world. In the end times of massive societal changes, corruption continues at the same rate as always, but nothing happens until the big bang comes. This is just a sign of massive legalized corruption in my view.