Depending on the exchange there can be many feeds that are price differentiated by feature set (including speed requirements).  There are no non-paid feeds, if you are getting market data it is being paid for by someone.<p>In particular though, most exchanges follow a pattern where market data is broadcast (usually udp) and order management is bidirectional unicast (usually tcp&#x2F;ip).  On the order management side, no one sees your order until after the exchange does.  The exchange then executes the order (filling it if there is  match on the other side, or adding it to the order book).  It then propagates down the market feed side the outcome of that order.  Only then do other participants see it, regardless of how fast they are.  There is no opportunity for the fast operator to get in front of the order as the GP describes.<p>You can verify this easily for any exchange you like (at least SEC regulated ones in the US) by reading the technical specifications of the electronic trading platform.<p>I don&#x27;t know what google search or RBC story you are talking about, but in Flash Boys for instance, they make pains to imply that HFT are front running orders as the GP describes but they never say it outright.  Because they know it can&#x27;t happen.  A good rebuttal to Flash Boys is Flash Boys, Not So Fast.