The heart of the problem isn't with HFT, it's that an order book isn't reflective of real supply and demand. A human realizes that, while HFT algos sometimes do

The heart of the problem isn't with HFT, it's that an order book isn't reflective of real supply and demand. A human realizes that, while HFT algos sometimes don't. For example, no one is listing buy orders for Apple at $1, even though everyone would love to buy Apple stock for one dollar. A human trader has enough sense to realize that most liquidity in any marketplace is off the order book, and act appropriately. But even so, I don't anyone really believes that HFT creates higher average market volatility. Some freak occurrences have happened, but I'm sure they'll go down over time.