r/investing
How would this new "relaxation" impact us, as investors?
SEC proposes scrapping the order protection rule to reduce costs and complexity, prompting investors to question the impact.
- Scrapping the rule could lower compliance and connectivity costs for broker-dealers and trading venues.
- Technological advancements have made the rule obsolete, potentially improving overall market efficiency.
- Eliminating the order protection rule might result in retail investors receiving worse execution prices via trade-throughs.
- The change could increase market complexity and reduce price transparency, potentially harming market fairness.
\Wall Street regulator proposes to scrap 'order protection rule'\
"WASHINGTON, June 11 (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday unanimously proposed to scrap longstanding Wall Street regulations requiring the execution of stock trades at the best available price, saying the rules drove up costs and complexity and were no longer necessary.
The proposal, if adopted, would mark another step in the Trump administration's plans to remake the structure of securities markets.
"I've opposed the trade-through rule since its inception and have elaborated on my concerns from this very stage," SEC Chair Paul Atkins said at a public meeting of the five-member bipartisan commission, which currently has only three Republican members and no Democrats.
Atkins had voted against the proposal while serving as a commissioner in 2005.
Also known as the "order protection rule," the regulation was first adopted in 2005 to prohibit so-called trade-throughs, which occur when a trade happens at a bid or offering price that is worse than what is quoted on another venue.
At Thursday's meeting, officials said technological advances and changes in US market structure meant the rule was now doing more harm than good, driving up costs for compliance and connectivity and making markets more complex while delivering little benefit.
Other regulations requiring price transparency from broker-dealers and trading venues remain in place, officials said."
Reporting by Douglas Gillison in Washington; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama