High Frequency Trading, from Anatoly Veltman

2010-05-19 · Anatoly Veltman, Bill Rafter, Russ Herrold
Original source

1. Can anyone come up with ANY justification for retail parties' engagement in High Frequency Trading?

Russ Herrold writes:

Sure. First would you mind please:

1. Carefully defining: High Frequency Trading

2. Explain if you consider the taking of profit from a market to constitute an adequate 'justification'.

Bill Rafter writes:

Let me deal with them in reverse order:

If a market is inefficient such that a profit can be made by doing a trade to capitalize upon the inefficiency, the trade performs the simultaneous jobs of creating liquidity and reducing inefficiency (and making a profit).

Given that, it makes no difference whether the trading is high frequency or not high frequency.

By the way, I have no dog in this hunt, being a long-only equities trader who tends to hold for a minimum of 2 days.