Thoughts on HFT, from Gordon Haave
How is it a boon to investors to get screwed on every transaction by people with better information? Mind you, it's not that they worked harder for more information about a companies prospects, they just paid a lot of money to get an unfair edge.
I know the standard response is "liquidity" but I also know that such liquidity disappears the second the "liquidity providers" aren't guaranteed profit. The normal justification for the money earned for providing liquidity is that it is a service and that risk is incurred.
With HFT it's just a guaranteed screwing over of everybody.
And people wonder why investors are buying gold and silver.