The problem is that Lewis either through misunderstanding, narrative purposes, or due to a conflict of interest is implying "buying/selling ahead of other investors". But that is not what is actually happening in the latency arbitrage case. In the latency arbitrage case a HFT uses trade information from one exchange, to update their own prices on other exchanges.
I find it fascinating that once people that understand the details they feel that nothing is wrong with this, and the people that stand back and look at the big picture see a rigged market.
It is Heisenberg morality. Once you look at it, there is nothing wrong with it. They are just updating prices to reflect demand, but at the same time they are extracting money from the market just because their data center is physically closer to the exchange.
" at the same time they are extracting money from the market"
This is the sentiment I don't understand. They aren't extracting any money. HFT market makers provide a service in the form of liquidity. It is natural and expected for the price of liquidity to go up as demand for it rises. There are liquidity purchasers that want to minimize the price of liquidity and therefore obscure their demand. This is also natural and expected. These are the forces that drive price discovery, this is what we want the markets to do.
Computers have made this process extremely fast and efficient to the benefit of nearly every market participant.
