High Frequency trading is at the for front of alot of technology such as ASIC's, Infiniband networking gear,and low latency OS and networking stacks.
That's not an argument for HFT. If HFT is useless, then it has divested a great amount of research into technologies that no one really wanted otherwise, i. e., that the social cost of HFT is greater. Standard microeconomics.
The question is, what's HFT good for? Do its benefits outweigh its costs? I believe they don't. Low-quality liquidity under the 1s frame is not only useless for traders, it has a great social cost, in the form of research diverted to this inane game. The only plausible arguments I've found for HFT claim that HF traders wouldn't profit if it wasn't useful -- which is really just begging the question; a circular argument.
That's not an argument for HFT. If HFT is useless, then it has divested a great amount of research into technologies that no one really wanted otherwise, i. e., that the social cost of HFT is greater. Standard microeconomics.
The question is, what's HFT good for? Do its benefits outweigh its costs? I believe they don't. Low-quality liquidity under the 1s frame is not only useless for traders, it has a great social cost, in the form of research diverted to this inane game. The only plausible arguments I've found for HFT claim that HF traders wouldn't profit if it wasn't useful -- which is really just begging the question; a circular argument.