I think the SEC is going after the wrong people, and the wrong things. Market manipulation should be defined better, and regulated with an iron fist. Quote stuffing should be defined and outlawed as well. The SEC and FINRA regulators are typically half-wits who are looking to make examples of someone. They choose the wrong guys. They should start at the top, not close to the bottom.
HFT, at its very core, is a last ditch attempt to inflate at all costs. It enables the market to continue to re-flate with almost no retail participation (i.e. constant outflows) and still record insider selling. It's a "corner" on the market, but is disguised as a "liquidity" enhancement. I don't have much hope that you will see it this way as I've known for quite some time that you are deeply in love with the sound of your own voice (or in this case you marvel at your written words).
There's lots of fools here that need wising up. If not for this idiocy You are posting too soon after your last post. Try again in a few minutes. there might be 111,000 posts.
I agree with the premise that posting bids that have no interest in being filled is the de-facto argument for market manipulation...The speed and frequency of the bids is pure evidence that no attempt is being made to actually make a bonafide goodwill effort to "transact". Hence, it's a tool to influence price without actually participating in price discovery.
I haven't looked into this deeply but is quote stuffing even illegal? I'm surprised these guys are laying down so easily.
"SEC hasn't been enforcing the market manipulation rules that is why since everybody is doing it from Goldman Sachs to small trading firms. The budget is of SEC and finra is very small." from businesstaxes I think this comes back to the point that Paulson and his crooked friends repeated ad naseum. They will use all tools available to recapitalise the banks. Paulson was stating implicitly that they were prepared to overlook legal abuses if it helped the TARP banks improve their balance sheets. So front running and insider trading are the norms. When can we finally stop pretending this is capitalism?
That is the crux of the matter. Everything has been or will be sacrificed to save the banking system and to try and re-flate again and again.