I agree, at least in sentiment. Adding noise to the market is strictly an advantage for retail investors who don't have access to high-frequency trading algorit

I agree, at least in sentiment. Adding noise to the market is strictly an advantage for retail investors who don't have access to high-frequency trading algorithms, pre-IPO pricing, detailed equity analysis, sophisticated pricing algorithms, or sophisticated financial instruments. There's certainly competition amongst Wall Street firms and they do create winners and losers... but they are winners and losers amongst themselves. The added noise and participation of retail investors at least somewhat disrupts their playground as you so succinctly put it, and creates arbitrage and investment opportunities. I guess one could argue that although it's still largely exclusionary, at least it's better than in the 1900s in terms of access, but that's not much comfort. I'm open to seeing other points of view, but at first glance this looks like it's a good thing, to my eyes.