Equity Market Structure
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Auctions Loom Large in SEC’s Equity Market Overhaul
At the Security Traders Association (STA) 89th Annual National Market Structure Conference held in Washington DC in October, brokerage executives reacted to the concept of auctions as well as other ideas on SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s agenda to revamp equity market structure. But the industry’s top wholesalers and brokerage executives speaking at STA emphasized that the stock market is functioning well for retail investors and cautioned against making a litany of changes that could lead to worse results.
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Plans for Equity Market Structure Revamp Stimulate Debate
One of the biggest possible reforms would be a requirement for retail brokers to route individual orders to buy or sell stocks into a transparent “auction process” for matching customer orders, rather than sending them to wholesale market makers for execution on off-exchange platforms.
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A Year in Review: Top Blogs in 2021
We covered topics such as retail order routing and the debate over payment for order flow (PFOF). We examined the resurgence in alternative trading systems (ATSs), the rise of outsourced trading desks for the buy side, and efforts to regulate fixed-income trading platforms as registered venues.
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SEC Revives Payment for Order Flow Debate
If PFOF is potentially curtailed or prohibited, it could impact retail investors that have benefited from commission-free trading as well as the wholesale market-maker model of matching retail orders through internalization.
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Equity Market Structure Wrestles with “Inaccessible Liquidity”
Equity market participants are learning about new exchanges, order types, and periodic auctions bringing innovation and competition to the equity trading landscape. Citing the concept of “inaccessible liquidity,” asset managers pointed to the surge of retail trading by mom and pop investors whose orders are executed off-exchange on private platforms.
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Exchange Landscape Gearing Up for Expansion in 2020
As a sign of the evolving U.S. equity trading landscape, two startups and one options exchange operator plan to launch as many as three new exchange platforms in 2020, and a fourth could be waiting in the wings. Emphasizing the need for competition and innovation in US equity market structure, new entrants have downplayed the increased connectivity costs and additional fragmentation of orders across trading venues.
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Equity Market Innovation Leads to Venue Proliferation
Several startups are planning to launch either new venues or order types, and even listing standards, to solve problems in US equity trading. FlexTrade’s Ivy Schmerken investigates.
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SEC Steers Pilot on Equity Trading Fees and Rebates Amid Headwinds
Diving into one of the more controversial issues in equity market structure, U.S. regulators are moving forward with the transaction-fee pilot that will force stock exchanges to lower the fee caps on rebates they pay to brokers and market makers.