I believe the 1.3 is in the ballpark for HFT profits in US Securities. Just look at Knight's Income statements from past years: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=KCG+Income+Statement&annual For the month of September they were ranked 7th in volume for NYSE, ARCA, and Nasdaq listed securities. I believe in the past they were even higher... Their net income averaged only a little over $100mil the past 3 years with expenses topping $1bil all three years.
numbers are different for each firm and for each year, but the ones i gave are pretty close to real for a firm i can't name
I was just trying to help you figuring out who you are trying to match your level. Where is the thank you?
My guess is that HFT to give a return on equity (funds invested) has to use a lot of leverage - less leverage available or higher cost of funds would likely impact profitability i.e. it is a Fed baby as much as a structural edge baby (Bats flash orders etc)
Do you realize "help you figuring out who you are trying to match your level" is not actually a sentence? I can't for the life of me figure out what you are trying to say: are you trying to match my level (whatever that means) or help me figure out who I am (why would you do that)?