if you look at the market as a whole, there is a thing called the "efficient market hypothesis". It assumes that markets are perfect and you can not make money trading securities, because all information is already priced in.
This is obviously not true, because HFT makes money, but you could say that HFT contributes to getting markets closer to being efficient.
Having efficient markets is worthwhile for society because an efficient, liquid market provides a more accurate picture of the "actual" value of things.
If you buy this argument, then HFT would be contributing to finding truth, which is inherently valuable in the eyes of many people.
At the end of the day, HFT is one of those things that people just get jelly about because someone makes money on something they dont understand and gets insanely rich "doing nothing".
What people get mad about is completely arbitrary. Everyone hates google because ads, but without google, their world would barely operate. Everyone hates facebook because fake news but nobody has the balls to actually not use facebook. A social network.
Everyone hates uber because "scandals" and poor drivers not being paid but still uses it because comfortable.
I'm not really in the stock market but when I want to sell stock, I'd rather there be some market maker who is obligated to buy it. Maybe he makes more money off of me than I ever will selling stock to him, but that one time when nobody else wants the falling stock and I potentially use a large chunk of my savings, I really need them.
Consumers sit on some amazingly high horses sometimes.
This is obviously not true, because HFT makes money, but you could say that HFT contributes to getting markets closer to being efficient.
Having efficient markets is worthwhile for society because an efficient, liquid market provides a more accurate picture of the "actual" value of things.
If you buy this argument, then HFT would be contributing to finding truth, which is inherently valuable in the eyes of many people.
At the end of the day, HFT is one of those things that people just get jelly about because someone makes money on something they dont understand and gets insanely rich "doing nothing".
What people get mad about is completely arbitrary. Everyone hates google because ads, but without google, their world would barely operate. Everyone hates facebook because fake news but nobody has the balls to actually not use facebook. A social network.
Everyone hates uber because "scandals" and poor drivers not being paid but still uses it because comfortable.
I'm not really in the stock market but when I want to sell stock, I'd rather there be some market maker who is obligated to buy it. Maybe he makes more money off of me than I ever will selling stock to him, but that one time when nobody else wants the falling stock and I potentially use a large chunk of my savings, I really need them.
Consumers sit on some amazingly high horses sometimes.