[baloneyman]

The purpose of markets is taking risk. Any participant whose intention is not to take risk is a parasite

Like many things in life, there are complete bullshit situations where some people get a better deal than others simply due to some arcanery. Are doctors in America 4x better than European ones, or are residency spots artificially restricted to keep salaries high?

The world has less and less parasites every day because technology allows us to see them for what they really are. This is just one of the many

[usrusr]

The purpose of blackjack tables is taking risks. The purpose of markets is to determine a price that is fair to both sellers and buyers. Risk-taking intermediates are just a possible building block for coming up with a solution to that goal.

[jliptzin]

I don't consider arbitrageurs parasites. They ensure that I am paying a fair price for my SPY shares.

[baloneyman]

Arbitrage that only exists due to the technicalities of market microstructure is parasitic to me. True HFT identifies trades with no risk; a long and a hedge at the same microsecond. That's just fractions of pennies that true risk takers lose, every day. They don't care at all about the intrinsic value of the security