SEC’s Latest Anti-Investor Proposal Would Burden Investors with Worse Prices

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Benjamin Schiffrin, Director of Securities Policyfor Better Markets, issued the following statement in connection with the filing of Better Markets’ comment letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding its proposal to eliminate rules that ensure investors receive the best prices on their securities trades:

“The so-called trade-through rule is a fundamental investor protection. It prevents trading centers from executing trades at worse prices than those available on other exchanges. In this way, it protects the execution of investors’ orders and guarantees they do not receive inferior prices. An SEC intent on fulfilling its mission to protect investors would support such a rule. Yet this SEC, under Chair Paul Atkins, is intent on undermining investors at every turn.

“The reason for dismantling this particular investor protection appears to be that it would benefit the SEC’s most favored constituency: the crypto industry. The trade-through rule is incompatible with tokenized stock trading because decentralized trading venues are not equipped to ensure that investors receive the best prices on their trades. This might be a reason to institute a trade-through rule for crypto assets. It should not be a reason to rescind a rule that has protected investors for over 20 years. Yet because the clear winner of doing so would be crypto, and legitimizing crypto is the SEC’s top priority, that is what the SEC proposes, notwithstanding the fact that investors would be the clear losers.