Norsc, there is no question in my mind that HFT and the addition of a second exchange are having a big impact on Australian retail trading. The dice are now loaded heavily in favour of institutional traders against the retail trader. Getting gazumped by HFT when buying and selling any share above a certain market valuation has become an ugly fact of life for independent traders. The Chi-X is another obstacle as it seems to be just another way for the instos to shaft the little guy by forcing them/us to buy higher and sell lower. Very frustrating to sit at the top of the sell queue and watch trade after trade go through at that price on the Chi-X.
To answer your specific question, one way to try to beat the bots is to avoid buying in round numbers because that is an obvious signal that you are a retail buyer. I'll often place a sell at a specific price but then find the bots undercut me. In that situation I'll cancel my sell and watch - often the price moves to my original selling price and I can then hit the buy. Other times you have to bite the bullet and accept a lower price. No hard and fast rules. You just have to game the system as best you can.
It's obscene that the regulators have allowed the playing field to be tilted so heavily against retail investors. There is no justification for it. The liquidity argument is no more than flannel. Hopefully Michael Lewis's book on the US situation will force changes there and the ASX will finally take its head out of the sand.
