Something this article ignores, and which is ignored by most articles on HFT, is that the process is ilegible to the public. &quot;No no we&#x27;re doing you a favor!&quot; is not reassuring when the activity consumes a bunch of resources on zero sum activity.<p>Ultimately investing runs on trust. HFT is consuming public trust in the financial system at a prodigious rate. Is it a trillion dollars a year? A billion? Hard to be sure. But it certainly isn&#x27;t clear the tiny market-making improvements are worth it.