One thing this commentator (and others) gets wrong is the emphasis on the place of flash orders in this process. What they seem to be missing is that flash isn

One thing this commentator (and others) gets wrong is the emphasis on the place of flash orders in this process. What they seem to be missing is that flash isn't automatic, it is selected by the sender. In this example, the implication is that the buyers of broadcom were disadvantaged by flash orders, but if flash orders were involved at all, then they would have been selected by those very same buyers, who would presumably not have disadvantaged themselves. Flash is an attempt by the more technically sophisticated markets (DirectEdge and BATS) to provide a service to customers who were tired of slow execution on some exchanges causing their orders to be faded. Any time that I see someone complaining about this, I suspect that they either don't understand it, or that they are being paid by someone at the slower markets (e.g. NYSE) to spread FUD.