4. Critics of high-frequency trading often complain that the practice is unfair because most investors do not have the technical ability to compete with the larger, better-financed institutions. For example, some institutions pay substantial sums to co-locate trading facilities in exchange buildings to reduce latency. Exchanges argue that co-location and HFT activities are fair because the fractions of seconds shaved off order routing and execution times are not meaningful. However, Arnuk and Saluzzi (2009) point out that

“some of the exchanges make sure that each co-located customer receives equal amounts of connecting cable, so that a server at the northeast corner of a facility has the same latency as one at the southwest corner.” What might this mean about the exchanges’ opinions with respect to transaction speed and unfair advantages in trading?