If you had a magic appliance that sidled up to a CME or Nasdaq or whatever market data feed...and could generate a trade request on one tick before the next tick comes out... Would that impact the kinds of algos you would be interested in trying?
Actually it would. You could buy then sell back with a 1 tick profit at some times. This was possible in stocks with "flash orders" (shown before they hit the ticker plant). not sure it still works. I always considered it fraud, mentally.
You're using the wrong terms .. but to answer the general question "If you had the fastest data & order placement, what would you trade?": Index arb. Option boxes. Futures calendars. There's a start anyway.
co-location with servers=> front-running, being done by Goldman Sucks and other brokers for years. a fraud committed by exchanges and brokers. For many years, market makers have been doing that under the pretense of "making a market." they see your orders and act accordingly.
Can you explain exactly how your orders are being seen? If you mean, prices fall when you sell a lot, then I understand, but I wouldn't call that front running. Same thing happens if you try to sell a lot of anything. Buyers back off a bit, and let you come to them.
Yeah, if you believe front running occurs like that then that's pretty clearly illegal. There's nothing here to do with algo trading though.
Yes, there is. If you know your order will be front-runned, you will send an order and then immediately cancel it (quickly done by computers of course). In that way, you trick the front-running computer (operated by Goldman sucks) into buying/selling. That's why Mary Shapiro, acting in the interest of Goldman sucks, recently said she would do something to stop "cancellation of orders," like collecting a fee. SEC is protecting the interests of these wall street crooks!