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A comment on U.S. banks told to make plans for preventing collapse. Parent comment

Re:U.S. banks told to make plans for preventing collapse by bryanlarsen on Friday August 10, 2012 @11:49AM (#4366649)
Before HFT liquidity was measured in 100s of millseconds. Now it's measured in microseconds.

Please tell me how this benefits anybody.

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Re:U.S. banks told to make plans for preventing collapse by dev_jim on Friday August 10, 2012 @12:01PM (#4366726)
Before HFT spreads were measured in 1/8ths of a dollar. Spreads of a penny (or pennies) matter a lot to your retirement. To the tune of billions a year saved for investors.
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Re:U.S. banks told to make plans for preventing collapse by bryanlarsen on Friday August 10, 2012 @12:35PM (#4366912)
Spreads were measured in 1/8ths of a dollar because the stock market was stuck in the stone age. I'm willing to bet that spreads would have tightened substantially after the switch to decimal even without HFT.
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Re:U.S. banks told to make plans for preventing collapse by dev_jim on Friday August 10, 2012 @12:47PM (#4366985)
Who do you think it was who brought the stock market out of the stone age? That would be the electronic market makers constantly pushing for innovation.

The old guard was perfectly content with eighths and fought as hard as possible to prevent decimalization because they were ripping investors off for billions a year.

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