You should watch the 60 Minutes piece. I got Lewis’s book last night (comes out today). The main issue is that the HFT firms are frontrunning trades by milliseconds and driving up the price based on the traders intent to buy or sell. It’s only pennies but they are making them by doing something that if it wasn’t done via technology and measured in milliseconds, is already banned.
I bought the book also. It does seem to me to be a bit of hyperbole though. Saying the entire market is “rigged” I think is an exaggeration. Scaring the general public into staying out of the market over basically rounding errors I don’t think is good. I usually use limit orders so I don’t see how they are hurting me. That’s just my opinion though.
That's what the guy was saying on Rush just now, but it just doesn't make sense. My "intent" simply does not exist until the instant I mash 'enter' and by then it's no longer an intent-order, it's a buy-order. OK, so maybe they're anticipating people's trades beforehand by watching market trends but that's exactly what we're all doing. Finally, the only way they can sneak in and confiscate my order is when they offer me a better price.
That's supposed to make me feel 'cheated'?