Evil ancestors of the dark art of High Frequency Trading conjour up dark machinations.

Does Michael Lewis simply just not get High Frequency Trading?

This video from Options trading expert, Tom Sosnoff of Tastytrade.com adds interesting perspective.

Charles Schwab has said, High-Frequency Trading a ‘Growing Cancer’ That Must Be Stopped. They seem a tad scared of the technology, perhaps they are wandering around their extremely expensively carpeted offices muttering, “These computers, why they are just evil”.

CNBC chose not to burn the witch, claming “High-frequency traders can’t front-run anyone
Great clip from CNBC with “William “Bill” O’Brien, the CEO of BATS, slammed Brad Katsuyama, the CEO and president of IEX, and author Michael Lewis.”

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/ceos-fight-over-high-frequency-trading-2014-4#ixzz2xuJuBsaj

It’s not that people are stupid, it’s that they are a sucker for a scapegoat.

Mark Cuban weighs in and says “the game is rigged so that the fastest,smart players are guaranteed to make money“. Do I even need to point out the obvious. Being smart gives you an edge, c’mon, gimme a break.

People, the media, book publishers, even Michael Lewis, loves a bogeyman. Watch out investors, the evil high frequency traders are out to get you and steal your money. All nonsense of course. It’s like saying that when traders installed the first electronic ticker tape machine they were stealing from honest traders who avoided such devlish machines.

I do not claim to be an expert in this field, but I know when someone is whipping up sensationalist stuff to sell some books and using the “traditional” part of an industry who are desperate to protect their turf.

I mean come on, would you really want to use Charles Schwab and the rest of them when you know they prefer to use slower, dumber, more ancient technology?