You can pay for a lot of things and that doesn't mean it's not in the interest of society or the market as a whole either. The trading in any one instrument on an exchange is a zero-sum game, but the structure of the market and the relationship between exchanges, buy-side firms, sell-side firms, and retail investors doesn't have to be.
Before electronic trading, the specialists who executed orders on the NYSE floor ALSO paid shitloads of money for their access.
One difference between today and the heyday of the specialist system is that in the specialist system, middlemen skimmed overtly from investors: the bid-ask spread was gigantic, and all that money went to the middlemen.
Before electronic trading, the specialists who executed orders on the NYSE floor ALSO paid shitloads of money for their access.
One difference between today and the heyday of the specialist system is that in the specialist system, middlemen skimmed overtly from investors: the bid-ask spread was gigantic, and all that money went to the middlemen.