Successful HFT desks are either large broker-dealers, or sophisticated hedge funds, both of which are well-capitalized, have expensive infrastructure, great loc

Successful HFT desks are either large broker-dealers, or sophisticated hedge funds, both of which are well-capitalized, have expensive infrastructure, great location (close to exchanges to minimize lag), ultra-low trading commissions etc. Furthermore, only the hedge funds are pure prop groups. Most the broker-dealer desks act as market makers and aggregators for internal flows (almost free money). So it's going to be very hard for you to compete with them, even if you come up with better algorithms. I recommend looking at mid-frequency or low-frequency algorithms, which will offset the impact of your higher trading commissions and don't get affected much by infrastructure and location issues. And yes, $10 per order is too much unless you talking really big money. Check out IB, FXCM etc.