>You've also got a very peculiar definition of winningNot really. The stock market is a giant pool of money. These parasite traders are nothing more than leaks in that pool. With enough of these leaks, the pool runs out of water. Additions of water to the pool (through a combination of rising market values and more investment) at various times will overshadow the effect of the leaks, but they are there nonetheless.
A person who wishes to buy 10,000 Ford shares who places an order at $17 only to find that in the meantime the market has shifted to $17.01 and therefore purchases at that price hasn't "lost"
Actually, they have lost. They lost 10,000 pennies, or $100, and received absolutely no value in return. That money is gone, never to return, into the pocket of an HFT. It has simply evaporated from the market.