You're fighting a losing battle. These people are personally involved in HFT or the financial industry in general, so naturally they'll try to justify what they're doing with whatever distraction-bullshit they happen to think of.
Sure, I can't know this, but it's a safe assumption. Whatever. Feel free to downvote and flag my post to bury it again, HN. Stay classy.
The army of PhDs from elite schools working for the financial industry are too smart not to realize that it's full of shit. How could they not see the relentless greed, and the sociopath douchebags in charge for what they are?
They'll be aware of bad/immoral/illegal things being done all around them, but hey, the salaries in finance are pretty fucking ridiculous and they get to work on challenging problems.
Just like you said, in the real world, someone trading in the real economy does not make trades thousands of times per second. And I bet HFT bringing spreads down to $0.05 doesn't help anyone without a HFT machinery of their own.
But here they are, on Hacker News, bullshitting/distracting us convincingly time and time again.
One thing that hasn't been mentioned is the practice of placing a large block order and then canceling it milliseconds later to take advantage of the price movement this causes. So placing a large order does not automatically create liquidity--it can create the momentary illusion of it. (This observation has to be pompously dismissed in gratuitously insulting terms--professional rational discourse will not suffice to explain indefensible practice. I must have touched a nerve.)
Sure, I can't know this, but it's a safe assumption. Whatever. Feel free to downvote and flag my post to bury it again, HN. Stay classy.
The army of PhDs from elite schools working for the financial industry are too smart not to realize that it's full of shit. How could they not see the relentless greed, and the sociopath douchebags in charge for what they are?
They'll be aware of bad/immoral/illegal things being done all around them, but hey, the salaries in finance are pretty fucking ridiculous and they get to work on challenging problems.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/high-frequency-minutes-hft-exp...
Just like you said, in the real world, someone trading in the real economy does not make trades thousands of times per second. And I bet HFT bringing spreads down to $0.05 doesn't help anyone without a HFT machinery of their own.
But here they are, on Hacker News, bullshitting/distracting us convincingly time and time again.