When incremental gains are no longer worthwhile, institutions will no longer invest in the infrastructure.  As long as the profit gained &gt; costs, they will invest in infrastructure, to the benefit of the tech industry.<p>And you&#x27;re right, we don&#x27;t need market makers trading as fast or as frequently as they do, but they see an opportunity, so they go for it, and we benefit anyway.<p>I&#x27;d personally be happy with 10 second execution, but if I can get 1&#x2F;2 second execution, why would I complain?