> Unfortunately, the difference between a good trader and a successfull one is not ability alone but privilege! Be it insider information or better latency, its

> Unfortunately, the difference between a good trader and a successfull one is not ability alone but privilege! Be it insider information or better latency, its the same thing here! > The gap between professionals and hobbyists is the same between professionals and customers, its the main reason of trustee obligations / market regulations. So something about this issue is not fine. > My point is, privileged market access leads to growing power asymmetries, which a newcomer can never compensate with genius abilities alone. This kind of market capture is similar to institutionalized corruption btw. And my point is that you are holding trading to a different standard. Is it a problem that Apple has so many resources that a hobbyist has no chance of competing with at making smartphones? Or Google and search engines, Chipotle and burritos, etc? Of course not. Those companies have earned their market shares by investing in the right places, innovating, good strategy, etc. Same is true for HFT firms. There would be a problem if either Apple or Citadel had a monopoly or was breaking the law. If there's proof that's the case, we have courts and regulators to step in. > I replied to your stronghold statements, didnt i? > Now, is HFT just a client side approach of front running? Which is an insider privilege and illegal. According to the legal definition, front running is when you have orders you are executing for clients and you trade ahead of them on your own account. HFTs do not have client orders, ergo they cannot possibly front run anything. If you use some expanded definition of front running, then it depends on the details of the definition. For some sufficiently broad definitions, probably yes. But then it's of course not illegal and possibly not even bad.