Clearly the role of exchanges has changed over the last twenty years. Most of the world's major exchanges are no longer "private clubs" that are owned by their members - they are generally exchange-listed companies in their own right and under broad public ownership. More and more, their execution services now compete head-to-head against other providers of execution capabilities - MTFs, ECNs, ATSs and brokers in general.

This changing industry landscape and the impact of the economic crisis are causing market participants to ask the "biggest little question" - Why?

Today's question is "Why do exchanges offer a higher-tier service that only richer members can take advantage of?" There is clearly a differentiation in the case of flash trading - only a few of the thousands of investment firms in the market today have the money and the technology to take advantage of exchange-based flash trading.

So - is an exchange trading environment a level playing field? It doesn't look like it, but that isn't necessarily new in itself. Practices of exchanges vary from one to another. Fees for transactions or market data can vary according to the volume that the member trades. Speed of access can vary where the exchange offers different connectivity at different speeds and different prices. Speed of access can also vary for exchanges that offer in-exchange hosting to members that can afford it.

To get even more philosophical - what do we mean by "fair"? In business, we all generally accept that we get what we pay for, and if we pay more we expect to get more of it, to get it faster, to get better quality, etc. That looks like the "level playing field" that exchanges are starting to offer.