http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/ ... ory_1.htmlSauter, whose firm does not engage in high-frequency trading, said he does not begrudge these traders the profit. By making their money in small increments, high-frequency traders have helped narrow spreads — the difference between what traders spend to buy a stock and the price at which they sell it to investors.
The increased liquidity and and tighter spreads have contributed to a 50 percent decline in transaction costs during the past decade at Vanguard, saving the firm’s clients millions of dollars, Sauter said. High-frequency trading may not be the only reason for the drop, but it’s a significant factor, he said.
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-exch ... 00045.htmlIn a fascinating pattern revealed in annual surveys by mutual-fund giant Franklin Templeton Investments, two-thirds of individual investors in 2010 answered that the stock market had fallen the prior year, when in fact it was up more than 25% in 2009. In both 2011 and 2012, half or more of respondents similarly claimed stocks were down the year before, when indeed the indexes had finished higher.
Gus Sauter points out the facts. Santoli cites surveys of "investors" beliefs. "Investors" ... let's call them "People with Extra Money who want to be Rich... but don't want to figure out how to invest, want someone to blame for their mistakes. "PwEMwwtbR-etc..." are lambs led to the slaughter. Wall Street is their abattoir.
Ignore the fear. Ignore the sales pitches. Let your index fund "worry" about HFT (who actually help you save money) and let someone else feed the publicly-traded Wall Street Firms in which you own a tiny slice and profit from each quarter as you slowly watch your wealth grow.