That's not an argument for trying to eliminate HFT market makers. The competition referenced between HFT market making firms that results in a winner take all

That's not an argument for trying to eliminate HFT market makers. The competition referenced between HFT market making firms that results in a winner take all structure between the HFT firms, is a competition to take the bid/ask spread, which is something that only HFT firms are trying to do. It should not be taken to mean that HFT firms are the sole collectors of profits in the markets, but that the best HFT firms out-compete the other HFT firms at a very specific type of trading. This competition to take the spread between HFT market makers decreases the spread and increases liquidity for everyone who isn't HFT, which lowers trading costs for non-HFT participants in the markets. Prior to the advent of HFT, slippage costs were consistently higher, due to how much larger the bid-ask was and due to how much less liquidity was present around the bid-ask at any given price, which the presence of HFT has helped to improve. https://www.ft.com/content/ff8c6486-cb37-11e3-ba95-00144feabdc0 https://www.ft.com/content/ff8c6486-cb37-11e3-ba95-00144feab...