Quote from rufus_4000:
I just flipped thru the entire thread. As many of you know, I run a HFT trading operation. I will make no specific arguments for or against HFT, am not here to win any intellectual argument, justify my systems' existence, or argue some morality point. Do I support some financial reform? Absolutely, but I have a biased standpoint, just as everybody else.
The point I think is very simple. Very very few ppl on this forum (and in general public, it seems) actually knows what it is that HFT firm does, and how it extracts profits. It is eeriely similar to a NYSE Specialist, trying to explain to ppl who have never set foot on an exchange trading pit, what is it they do, and what functions they provide (and as we see on May 6th, the "old scummy" specialists do serve some purpose). The "charges" are exactly the same. You have a portion of traders (both retail and professional), get so angry about the NYSE Specialist system, that they believe all Specialists are thieves and robbers, and should be burned figuratively and literally. You do have the few market participants who did game the system, and the cadre of Specialists is an "old boy's circle" that protects their own interests, bsolutely.
Fact is, vote with your Trades. It really is as simple as that.
It is like sitting down on a poker table, if you don't like the game, leave. Eurex suffered almost 60% decline in bund/bobl activity, after they introduced the 1/2 tick size that no one liked, they got the hint, and reversed their decision. Vote with your economic activities and heft.
Meanwhile, we can all have half dozen shots, and argue about the rigged markets supported by Comrade Obama (or Commandant Bush, which ever conspiracy theory you prefer) until we are blue in the face, but come 9:30 tomorrow, the market will open again. What purpose would that serve?
