UPDATE: No phones allowed. Retail may not have fair access to "low latency" touch-tone phones. All transactions to be executed by semaphore & courier pigeon.
No way, man. Once HFT is banned, emg will be starting threads titled "95% of small traders win! They just win!" If I were one of the traders who just knows for a fact that without HFT in the markets, I'd be profitable, I'd go out and buy a nice Ferrari in anticipation of my soon-to-be wealth.
No, no, that won't work. What will happen when somebody figures out that some pigeons are lower latency than other pigeons?!
Those who oppose HFT should post what you think your profits will be like once it's banned. 100%/year? 1000%? 10,000%? Since you know that it's HFT and only HFT that puts you in the losing trader category, you must have some idea of how big a winner you'd be when it's gone. Please, enlighten the rest of us.
That is about the jist of it. I am sure the PPT uses the same technology. The funny thing is it is so easy to back door these operations into the common market under a different name and location. This will not stop HFT activities nor will it correct the issue. Adaptive technologies could mitigate the issue but you not stop human greed.