No need to fear bots. HFT in traditional markets has two components that make it nasty:
1. Algorithms are allowed to place orders with no intention to allow them to fill. In fact, if an order comes in that would fill them, they are given time to pull the order. As a human, it is illegal to place an order without the intention to allow it to fill. This is possible because of:
2. Algorithms have direct access to the actual orderbook, whereas retail traders only have access to a order queue. These orders will eventually hit the market, but the algorithms get to peak at them ahead of time and even make trades before they hit.
Now wait a minute. Isn't that frontrunning? Isn't frontrunning, like, illegal?
