I think we should all point and laugh at the floor traders while they "get some sleep after a tough day" while we rise off into the sunset on server racks.
Floor traders don't exist anymore. They have been replaced by scripts.
That's very very true damn algorithms and noise
Market making is a waste of human resources. It is a very well defined process that is easily automated.
That said, I'm not okay with programs that are allowed to front run trades by being given access to orders before they are eligible to be executed.
I'm not really happy with algorithmic trading and it's ability to manipulate limit orders by selling just enough to eat a persons order then pump the price down again
http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~mkearns/papers/vwap.pdfPapers kind of long but is pretty much the explanation
That is exactly the problem I mentioned. They have an advantaged view of the retail orders and are able to place orders to be executed before the retail trades execute.
That said the problems of getting priority in trading by thousands of a second over other's is also an issue and issuing shares and cancelling orders in the same timeframe is another problem
This gets at the other main problem: it is illegal for a human to place an order without intending to let if fill. Algorithms are permitted to do this due to a bug in the way the law was written.
In general, I don't see a problem with allowing companies to rent out rack space in the exchange's datacenter. This is no different from a trade paying a fee to participate. It is the ability to front run retail orders and the ability to stack the order book (and remove the orders quick enough if retail orders come in that will mess up their manipulation) that are the problems.
I agree completely
On the bright side at least they try to restrict the second problem now of flash orders on the major exchanges
But that's in theory who the heck is tracking it
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_tradingUnder an exception to Rule 602 of Regulation NMS flash orders are currently allowed.
As of May 2010, the proposals have not been implemented. Even though most programs have been stopped voluntarily, it is still possible, at least with Direct Edge.
Marketwatch pretty much said it
Get it? Never trade. It is a loser's game
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hft-quants-crush-main-street-investors-2009-10-06?pagenumber=2Still want to play the day-trading loser's game? Warning: "Today's order books are filled with feints and parries, made and withdrawn in a blink of the electronic eye, 1,000-share bids and offers that are stalking horses for million-share moves." And "when the market moves, to do it again. By posting bids and offers for the same securities simultaneously."
Only a fool would bet against the new HFT-Quants or challenge them out there on "The Singularity" battlefield, where "the high-frequency boom is reshaping securities markets everywhere." Don't trade, stick with a Lazy Portfolio of no-load index funds.
Pretty much its put your order out there robot eats it and push market down lol.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/world-federation-of-exchanges-reports-on-high-frequency-trading-hft-2013-05-29