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Do large market players using HFT make it unsafe for individual investors to be in the stock market?
I don't think that HFT is a game-changer for retail investors. It does mean that amateur daytraders need to pack it up and go home, because the HFT guys are smarter, faster and have more money than you. I'm no Warren Buffet, but I've done better in the market over the last 4 years than I ever have, and I've been actively investing since 1995. You need to do your research and understand what you're investing in. Barring outliers like the "Flash Crash", nothing has changed. You have a great opportunity to buy quality companies with long track records of generous dividends right now for the "safe" part of your portfolio. You have great value stock opportunities. You have great opportunities to take risks on good companies the will benefit from economic recovery. What has changed is that the "set it and forget it" advice that people blindly followed from magazines doesn't work anymore. If you expect to park your money in Index funds and don't manage your money, you're going to lose. Remember that saying "Buy low, sell high"? You buy low when everyone is freaked out and you hear Gold commercials 24x7 on the radio.