>Lets just say HFT firms did net to zero Sorry, crazy premise. If a particular HFT netted less than $100k/year, I'd be surprised if they kept doing it, and I'v

>Lets just say HFT firms did net to zero Sorry, crazy premise. If a particular HFT netted less than $100k/year, I'd be surprised if they kept doing it, and I've certainly heard of HFTs who made in excess of $400k/year. >There are a vast number of market participants who do loose money. Irrelevant. It's not about whether people ever lose money, but about whether HFTs add any real value to the market. If no one can give me real evidence that they do, then I say that the rules should be changed to make such trading unprofitable; if it went away, then the people who are actually buying stocks as a medium to long-term investment would make MORE money (on average), or at least lose less.