[JumpCrisscross]

> Is that better liquidity, etc., actually needed

Broadly speaking, yes. Turning down liquidity increases spreads which affects which sorts of companies are able to raise what sorts of capital in those markets.

The paradox of HFT is that it's much smaller and more efficient than the slower, manpower-heavy Wall Street industry it replaced. It's just weird, which makes it easy to demonise in popular politics.

[AnarchismIsCool]

No they're definitely evil. Maybe not broadly, but they keep trying to force long-standing public RF spectrum into the private domain just so random companies can have a very slight trading edge. I have a hard time believing that there aren't other negative externalities.