[tptacek]

The markets in the decades before HFT were crooked like a bucket of fish hooks! They were NOTORIOUSLY corrupt. Everyone was scamming everyone else. The entire market was a giant grift. Are you really sticking up for 1980s trading? Or have you just not done much research about how it worked?

[Frondo]

Really? And now, with HFT, they're no longer crooked? If I remember right, in the 2000s we've seen a ton of crooked market scandals (fraudulently rated securities, LIBOR, etc etc). I don't see this relationship you're positing between HFTs and a non-corrupt trading market at all.

[tptacek]

That's an illogical response.

[Frondo]

You said: prior to HFTs the markets were corrupt, the entire market was a giant grift.

You implied that, without HFT companies, we'd be right back there, though I see now that you didn't explicitly say exactly that.

[tptacek]

For your argument to make sense, all forms of corruption would need to have a single cause, and all interventions to reduce corruption would need to impact all forms of corruption. That's nonsensical and not a point I'm willing to engage further with.

I think we've pushed this thread far enough to the right margin of the page.

[Frondo]

I get that you're passionate about HFTs, but what's that old saying? Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.