Wall Street Trading Could Undergo Biggest Changes In Nearly 20 Years After SEC Vote On Key Proposals

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is set to vote on whether to propose some of the biggest changes to the equity markets in close to two decades during its Dec. 14 meeting, reported Reuters, citing the agency.

What Happened: The potential amendments include new rules that would require marketable retail stock orders to be sent to auctions before execution. This would be a new standard for brokers to ensure they get the best possible executions for client orders, and lower trading increments and access fees on exchanges, the SEC said, according to the report.

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"It's about driving greater competition, transparency and efficiency and the marketplace," SEC Chair Gary Gensler said in an interview with Yahoo Finance, according to the report.

U.S. markets continued their weak trend on Wednesday with next week’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting beginning to weigh on investors’ minds. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY closed 0.17% lower on Wednesday, while the Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund ETF BND ended 0.87% higher.

Why It Matters: These changes, if implemented, would be the biggest shake-up to stock market rules since the agency introduced the Regulation National Market System in 2005, the report said.

Gensler has said he would like to see more order-by-order competition for individuals' stock orders, and a better even playing field between stock exchanges, the report said.

Meanwhile, the SEC has reopened the comment period on proposed amendments intended to modernize and improve the disclosure required about an issuer’s repurchases of its equity securities, often referred to as buybacks.

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