Speed and frontrunning are not equivalent. Frontrunning is an illegal practice. Here is an article from FINRA stating as much [0]. Of course, people are always

Speed and frontrunning are not equivalent. Frontrunning is an illegal practice. Here is an article from FINRA stating as much [0]. Of course, people are always looking for ways to accomplish this. Hell, sometimes the exchanges try to sell it as a feature [1]. Again, no one debates that these types of practices should be banned and penalized (they already are). I'm not inside "the industry" so I don't know if there are some firms that make profit from illicit means by abusing bugs and/or other loopholes where speed matters. However, speed is always an advantage when there are multiple exchanges that sell inter-related products. The same reason why computers are used instead of telephones. You mention that HFT firms are willing to invest to beat other HFT firms gives the game away. We are both in agreement here but come to different conclusions. The arbitrage "algorithm" is simple in most cases. Futures contracts being sold in Chicago are at odds with equity prices in NYC. The first one to correct them wins. Speed is the only thing that matters. How exactly is people competing in the race "give the game away"? [0] - https://www.finra.org/investors/insights/getting-speed-high-frequency-trading https://www.finra.org/investors/insights/getting-speed-high-... [1] - https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2012-2012-189htm https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2012-2012-189htm