I play reset for a little over an hour at night. In that time, my port often ends up deeply in the red (over a million is not unusual). Some days I make that back by morning, others it takes much of the day. There is rarely movement at reset that covers commission on most stocks. We're lucky to see a handful of stocks move +/- a single point during that first hour. Not only that, but there is constant bouncing of stocks, usually not enough to be profitable. A stock priced $40 that was heading down could bounce a few cents up and then drop again to head back in its original direction. If someone used a ticker to follow that kind of movement, they'd be even deeper in the red, because following most of those bounces does NOT cover commission. How does one tell those bounces from a true reversal using the ticker? They can't. You have to constantly check your port to see what stocks are really doing...how much they're moving, if they're really reversing, etc.
Out of the hundreds of stocks that now move at reset and the following few hours, most are reversals of long held (usually short) postitions that I don't even bother trading. Knowing what to trade takes observation and experience. Even I choose wrong much more than I'd like, and I'm a fairly decent trader.
You seem to be blaming reset, tickers, and a few traders for the volatile market. HSX's new system is the one to blame.
Having followed reset for several years, I can say that we now see the most stocks moving (usually starting after 1 a.m. when all the junk stocks move) but the vast majority of movement is in very small increments. People who think this is a daytraders market are crazy. Daytraders can lose their shirts faster then ever because, although many stocks move, the range of movement is so small it doesn't cover commission. Plus, stocks constantly bounce during the day...constantly. No one can follow all of that movment and come out ahead. In my opinion, it's a longer term, hold the right direction market with a few daytradable stocks thrown in to make it interesting. The hard part is distinguishing what to trade and what to ignore. Wrong moves can cost millions.
Furthermore,Ā when I check my port in the mornings, I frequently find stocks that have moved at reset only to reverse sometime during the night/morning. The reset traders didn't do it, I blame the east coasters.