I have a different question about timing on stock exchanges. What social good is being served by the ability to trade at microsecond frequency? Are individual investors or non-HFT participants being "fleeced" in every transaction by those who are able to take advantage of timing?
If this is a problem, I had this notion that stock markets (or the clearinghouses or whoever responsible) should slow down the allowed frequency to aggregate all trades within, say, 1 second, and do the clearing/price setting at that frequency. Surely being able to trade at the speed of 1 second is not a big loss of utility -- for the "legitimate" trading going on.
Can't we stop this timing arms race? Or is the problem I'm thinking of not actually a concern? Are millions of us paying half a cent to these HFT trading firms' profits with every trade, just like the old notion of shaving a half a cent interest off of everyone's bank accounts to make some clever criminal rich?
If this is a problem, I had this notion that stock markets (or the clearinghouses or whoever responsible) should slow down the allowed frequency to aggregate all trades within, say, 1 second, and do the clearing/price setting at that frequency. Surely being able to trade at the speed of 1 second is not a big loss of utility -- for the "legitimate" trading going on.
Can't we stop this timing arms race? Or is the problem I'm thinking of not actually a concern? Are millions of us paying half a cent to these HFT trading firms' profits with every trade, just like the old notion of shaving a half a cent interest off of everyone's bank accounts to make some clever criminal rich?