the ASX is compromised because it let the computers into its data room in the first place, lured by the prospect of fees on tiny - but relentlessly frequent - trades.
Speed-trading computers sit next to an exchange's to minimise the millisecond it takes for data to go down a fibre cable.
The whole point is they have to get in first.
The problem for punters who must use a broker, along with super funds and everybody else except the owners of the algorithms, is that the computers queue-jump.
They have an unnatural advantage in seeing an order before brokers do.
Think that's bad?
Try this: ASX announcements and news wires such as Bloomberg are fed straight into the algorithms. They can read, digest and act on the information infinitely faster than you.
Bet you aren't sent a profit downgrade straight to your computer from the ASX the moment it's announced.
Thought not.
But imagine the advantage a robo-trader would have in knowing before you.
That used to be called insider trading.
Now it's ''liquidity enhancement'' and it's legit.
A variation on this is a tactic employed overseas, and possibly already tried here given the glitches the ASX system has periodically, which is swamping the exchange's computer with multiple single-share orders to slow down the system.
That can give the computers a few extra seconds to act, or jump ahead of any trades that had been frozen.
Often you'll see trades of a single share where the brokerage costs more than the stock.
The computer is sussing out prices, forcing you to pay more - or get less if you're selling - than what your online broker's screen says.
Talk about unfair or, in finance speak, an uneven playing field.
