I agree about distrust of middlemen. The analogy that i would go with is that the biggest HFT firms are like big-box retailers. Not glamorous at all (despite

I agree about distrust of middlemen. The analogy that i would go with is that the biggest HFT firms are like big-box retailers. Not glamorous at all (despite the math), and most of the hard work is in automation/process to manage the storefronts and inventory at scale. HFT becomes comparable to walmart, which does not engender much love.