First HFTs took over capital markets courtesy of "legal" orderflow frontrunning which is, for the sixth years in a row, confused with "providing liquidity", and which has allowed such pending IPOs as Virtu to boast 1237 profitable trading days out of 1238 while making their owners multi-billionaires. And now, courtesy of Michael Lewis, the high freaks have also taken over the Amazon bestselling books list [8].
[9]
That's right - Americans are now fascinated by issues involving market structure, exchange topology, momentum ignition and quote stuffing.
And just like that, virtually everyone now i) knows the markets are rigged and ii) has an adverse opinion of the collocated "New Normal" vacuum tubes known affectionately as the High Freaks. (Incidentally, just the way the Goldman-supported IEX dark pool and apparently the FBI wanted it).
Perhaps now may be a good time for Virtu to shelve its IPO. Due to "market waking up to HFT criminality conditions."