Mar. 12, 2023
A free and fair market can only exist if competition is also free and fair, and this includes the fulfillment of market orders. Currently, the majority of order flow is serviced by only a handful of wholesale dealers who use their near-monopoly to extract as much wealth from investors as possible while delivering measurably inferior service. In addition to this, wholesalers absorbing trades and internalizing them obscures the true market activity from the public, preventing real price discovery and granting an unfair advantage of information to this select handful of firms. Giving an open auction system first priority to fulfill orders will do much to solve both of these problems by putting all participants on a more even footing. I support the proposed rule S7-31-22 as written.