Neo, sorry if I missed your point. My view remains the same....

Neo, sorry if I missed your point. My view remains the same. Just because it's been around for a while doesn't mean it has to stay.

"don't actually understand either of them..." Well I understand that if I have enough money I can kill a company for no valid reason by shorting.

HFT... Unless I'm mistaken I believe HFT is all about creating a situation where by the HFTer can gain an advantage across multiple markets. Also if there wasn't an advantage in HFT which equates to being a disadvantage for those who don't HFT then why is there a race between the HFTers to be the fastest? And also have the best algorithm?

So I don't believe people need to know the in's and outs of either to understand the results they bring.

But I could be wrong.