Little by little I have been decreasing my usage here since my daughter was born (about the same time I started my business as well). I do love HSX, truly.
I have only ever played the site seriously for about a period of one year. Now I just buy on mention of news, short all limited releases within 3 or 4 months of opening and play the weekend openers. I will buy Summer/Holiday Warrants and if I am around when an occasional STV or Deadlist come to light a short is always welcome. I don't buy Starbonds because it takes too much time (though it is straight cash).
With that playing style I have managed to rank myself in the top 630 of all time and I started this game many years after it was created. Now, I am not saying that is a great accomplishment for some (many are much more serious and rightfully hold better rankings), but for as little effort as I put into HSX anymore I feel I am doing something right (imo very accurate with the openers).
I enjoy coming to the site and seeing what film comes out when, interacting with interesting people when I can and seeing if I can handicap a film by guessing the weekend take accurately based on tracking from numerous gurus on the boards.
I have seen this place go from hopping, to not, back to a level of normalcy again (though not like it used to). I think the concept is brilliant and thoroughly enjoy where it is today. I was a fan of the new site (not the orange) and I am kind of happy the commission free Saturday was ended.
Now, the Cantor Exchange, does it intrigue me? Yes. Do I think I will eventually take my developed skill from here to there and profit from it? Yes. I can afford it and why not try my hand at something I am more certain of then most anything else I do. However, I need the time to do so and that is the reason I have not begun to venture that path.
All that said, I feel if you take steps to integrate HSX into the Cantor Exchange I probably would play even less. If it ain't broke.... Seriously, some people here have made this a full time hobby. It would be a shame to end the game as we know it to (let's face it) drive interest into the Cantor Exchange. If you decide to change HSX into that type of trading style that is exactly what you're doing.
If you make the remaining traders here adapt to the new and only way of trading then what you are doing is making the drug that more accessible. Say six months go by on the new format, well you're that much more closer to getting new users on the real money Cantor Exchange. In my opinion if that move is made that is what the real goal was, to entice people to buy into the Cantor Exchange. Like it or not it is going to be hard to get (a lot) of people to trade real movie stocks in the short term and you already have a built in audience, some of whom aren't ready to buy in. This change would help them make the leap. However, it could be costly as well as dwindling interest of the site and limited funds by many could kill HSX/Cantor traffic.
I hope that you listen to the overwhelming response by the many traders here and keep HSX separate from the Cantor Exchange. You have a big decision to make, but I hope that in this case you listen to the users. That's my take.