[ExI] Efficiency of algorithmic trading

[Rafal Smigrodzki]

On Wed, Apr 27, 2011 at 3:39 PM, Jeff Davis <jrd1415 at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> Computerized trading has made it possible to algorithmically analyze
> and manipulate trading activity and then parasitically "skim""profits"
> without any enhancement of productivity.

### "Parasitically"? What makes you think that algorithmic trading is
"parasitic"? Do you actually know what is the content of the
algorithms? How can you make judgments about the economic efficiency
of an activity without a detailed understanding of the mechanisms
involved? (Of course, you don't have a detailed understanding of the
interplay of algorithmic trading with the economy at large - nobody
does)

All this looks to me like a knee-jerk reaction to other people making
oodles of money in a way one does not understand - just like the
demonstrably stupid yet depressingly common denigration of
short-sellers and speculators.

Rafal