In the old NYSE prices-set-in-fractions days: Resting orders outside the bid and offer where great! The reason resting NYSE orders were great for savvy traders was that if the specialist jumped over your order to fill a big order, he had to improve your fill price to the price he gave on the next print. (Example: Stock price is 100 and your buy order was 99 and 7/8. If the next print was 99 and 3/4 you got that print and recieved a bonus 1/8) Entire strategies were built around Fishing Orders that were canceled and resent a little farther away if the stock price drifted too close to the order because the trader was looking for the specialist to trade through him and improve his fill price. ___ Thanks for your great reply!
Okay...? I don't understand what your point has to do with tapereading or even adverse selection. You are not obligated to trade or make markets. If you choose to continue to trade, find another way to do it where this type of activity doesn't affect you as much. In my experience, hft does not have as big of an impact on my trading as you're suggesting neither am I dumping a position and 'exiting at a loss of 1 tick or more because price has moved against me'. HFT is not the only game in town. Predicting what's going to happen in the next thousandths of a second is overrated. Tapereading is not hft.
What type of stocks do you prefer to trade? Liquid / thin volume, Price range, Other characteristics?
Liquid stocks, lots of volume, usually under $30 for in-plays, nothing special. I have other strategies for trading big caps or SPY.. I cut my teeth trading those so I am always watching and will trade when there's opportunity. You?
Although I don't trade stocks, I agree with those that have a different experience as yours and their experience is supported by articles like Credit Suisse: Here's how high-frequency trading has changed the stock market @ http://www.businessinsider.com/how-high-frequency-trading-has-changed-the-stock-market-2017-3/#higher-trading-volumes-1 Yet, I do know that HFT has helped spreads to become tighter in comparison to 10 years ago. wrbtrader
I don't think anyone here is arguing that hft hasn't had an impact on the market. But I don't see the relevance of the argument as it pertains to tapereading.