Quote from nitro:
Ok, true. But then the poll is not measuring anything other than whether there are more "swing" traders than "arbitrageurs" responding to this thread - that is certainly self-evident simply because there are 100 "swing" traders to every 1 arbitrageur.
In a way, the best general answer will come from those that are neither arbs or swing traders, as it is clear that to arbs it is critical and to swingers it is of no consequence - you gain no insite from asking them. The high volume daytrader on the other hand is in some way the one that best answers this question, since for him, speed is just another tool in his toolbox. The question is, how important is it for him. When I did that kind of trading, my vote would have been, it is very important, but not critical.
The poll question should be: If speed is important to your trading, do low ping times matter?
Otherwise, we might as well ask whether we would put a blind dog at the head of the pack or in the back.
nitro