Mar. 12, 2023
To Whom It May Concern: I'm reaching out to show my support for the proposed "Order Competition Rule, File No. S7-31-22, Release No.34-96495". According to my understanding, currently, more than 90% of marketable orders from individual investors are routed to off-exchange dealers known as wholesalers, who execute the orders internally without providing any opportunity for other market participants to compete. The proposed rule would require certain orders of individual investors to be exposed to competition in fair and open auctions before they could be executed internally by any trading center that restricts order-by-order competition. I believe the proposal is designed to benefit individual investors by promoting competition and transparency and to benefit investors generally, including institutional investors, by giving them opportunities to trade directly with individual investor orders that are mostly inaccessible to them in the current market structure. Therefore I urge you to implement this rule as soon as possible with the utmost urgency. Thank you. Jim Farrel