Not really complaining, just pointing out that its more challenging to trade now than pre-credit crisis and HFT has eroded some of our profits however as you pointed out the choice is ours, adapt or get out.
so its now your argument that t/a once worked but no longer does? The FED study showed support and resistance existed in the currency markets. are you declaring that the markets have changed so much support and resistance no longer exists... your are argument is really weak. yes hft makes is tough to establish positions with precision with tight stops But all anyone has to do is look at the data to see support and resistance still exists in the market. I showed you the 50 period moving average in 2009.. you said I was cherry picking. No Doji showed it to you again in 2012. The 50 MA is not magic its where some institutions make decisions on whether to support or dump their positions. You can learn a lot from a 50 ma. If you have a mind that can think in probabilities you can make money knowing that. There are many other support and resistance areas that become non random areas.
You believe aliases on elite trader? Not to mention that the paper you cite is equivelent to citing 1980's papers on the state of computing as being relevent. Come on, Jem, you know better from your own experience. While there appears to still be a few true believers and hanger ons of the old ways, the markets have changed to such a degree they are getting fewer by the day. surf
It hurts the retail investor who maintains stop loss orders. Since so much volume is based on HFTs, if there's a "shoot first, ask questions later" event (such as the major technical breakdown that occurred during the 2010 flash crash, or a rumor on a stock), you've got these programmed trading systems with state-of-the-art news keyword recognition programs in place and when something triggers potential volatility, all that liquidity they provide in an orderly market is withdrawn, and retail investors' stops get hit. At least that how it was explained to me.
Every day mature markets are get tougher. Many years ago I taught tennis to some of the hedge fund pioneers one guy told me how he made is money in the 70s. He told me break out trading used to work great but he can no longer trade that way. He said he always has to change the way he trades. I made a living using t/a in the 90s off one minute and 5 minute charts. And we taught it to others we had a 10 to 15 traders making money every month for a few years. But my day trading styled got replaced by machines and new laws. My father figured out a way to turn 800 thousand until 5 million in his retirement. He used t/a and IBD to do it along with discipline and guts. Trying to tell me t/a does not work is never going to work. Makes me laugh. I say to myself those people must not know what to look for. Now what I look for shows up less and less... so I can no longer trade for a living. but, I am watching markets again. we will see what type of a return I can generate. I am sure I will.
Some countries are now starting to increase their fees on HFT firms. I don't think that's the reason why there's a decline in HFT trading but it sure has slowed them down considerably in equities, forex, futures, fixed income and such in comparison to prior years when HFT trading was on the rise. 50% decline in HFT from 2009 to 2012 in equities and 25% decline for HFT from 2011 to 2012 in futures implies something is spooking them away from their money tree. I just can't imagine a billion dollar industry growing in futures, forex markets with the world economies struggling and trying to find new ways of raising cash from the markets. Seems obvious to charge HFT higher fees especially with so many folks playing the blame game and pointing a finger at HFT. Regardless to the stats, HFT is here to stay and 10 years from now folks will be pointing their finger at something else.