The study, carried out independently by Progress Software, questioned 100 Trade Tech 2010 delegates about European regulation and market surveillance.

The survey found that a significant number of respondents had positive attitudes towards high frequency trading strategies as well as market surveillance measures from European regulators.

- Less than a quarter of respondents believe that HFT threatens market integrity and only 26 per cent believe that HFT increases the opportunity for market abuse

- However, just 40% of respondents believe that HFT increases market liquidity, tightens spreads and increases market efficiency for all

Dr Giles Nelson, deputy Chief Technology Officer at Progress Software, commented: "There is no question that high frequency trading is here to stay and the benefits are clear to market participants. The practice has created opportunities for firms to remain competitive in challenging markets. However, it is crucial to provide the technology to provide the checks and balances necessary when moving at lightning speeds by detecting market abuses in real time."

The majority (nearly 90%) of respondents would disagree with Germany's recent ban on naked short selling. Almost 90 per cent of survey respondents said that naked and sponsored access to markets should not be banned.

"The key to proper regulation is not banning, but rather policing HFT practices to detect market abuses and manipulation," Nelson continued. "Regulatory bodies need to take the action to deploy proper market surveillance technology to combat human trading errors that are bound to happen. Market surveillance should support the widely accepted practices of market participants, not hold them back with bans."