SEC
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A Year in Review: Top Blogs in 2022
As we look back on this year, topics such as institutional adoption of digital asset trading, European trading in response to geopolitical risk, and the SEC’s plans to revamp U.S. stock trading rules dominated the headlines. In 2022, we covered those topics and much more including the growing sophistication of AlgoWheel, and the evolution of the buy-side fixed income EMS.
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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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Stablecoin Fiasco Raises Questions for Institutional Adoption of Digital Assets
It’s not clear whether the stablecoin crisis will cause institutions to scale back their plans for trading and investing in cryptocurrencies or digital securities.
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The New Wave in Private Securities Marketplaces
Eyeing this demand for private equity, major broker-dealers, wholesale market makers and global exchanges are striking deals and forming new platforms to bring automation to private securities trading.
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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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Regulating Fixed-Income Platforms: Separating Fact from Fiction
The fixed-income trading space has exploded with innovation from electronic trading protocols to new pricing services. In recent years, execution management systems (EMSs) have expanded their functionality in fixed income to provide more efficiency and …
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CAT Compliance Ramps Up on Sell Side with Interfirm Linkages
While adhering to the CAT reporting timeline, sell-side firms are responsible for monitoring the CAT Reporter Portal and for fixing errors and rejects that come back from FINRA. So far, experts say the industry is doing very well with their data submissions. But error rates could escalate as the industry tackles more thorny order events and submits higher volumes of data.
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Reforming the SIP with Odd Lots and Competing Consolidators
With attention riveted on volatile stock and bond markets and the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, brokers and asset managers are focused on keeping up with the high volumes of market data and trades. With so many unknowns, the situation could impact market data reforms to overhaul the securities information processor or SIP.
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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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U.S. to Study Effects of MiFID II Research Unbundling
U.S. lawmakers authorized a study focusing on the provision of investment research for small issuers, a sign they are wary of the U.S. adopting the European Union’s MIFID II unbundling rules which have brought sweeping changes to the research business.
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CAT: Moving the Ball Forward
With a new contractor taking over the Consolidated Audit Trail project in March, the order-tracking system for all U.S. stock and option trading activity is pushing ahead with equities testing starting in December and a go-live date of April 2020.