Mar. 12, 2023
As a household investor and a concerned citizen I support removing payment for order flow from our markets. Sending orders to a wholesaler, like Citadel, to be internalized has created a monopoly on order flow. Investors should have access to the best priced quotations available in the marketplace. It is time to bring back competition to the marketplace. A broker should route orders directly to auction to avoid providing an information advantage to wholesalers. In lieu of PFOF, I would recommend a cap on the amount of commissions or fees that the brokers are allowed to charge. This will deter brokers from pricing out investors and leading them to other products that create an unfair advantage in the marketplace. I trust the Economic Analysis done by the commission and I look forward to retail saving from $1.12 billion to $2.35 billion on transaction costs. These estimated gains would be generated primarily through increased competition to supply liquidity to marketable orders of individual investors, which in turn would lower transaction costs for individual investors, potentially enhance order execution quality for institutional investors, and improve price discovery. Payment for order flow has created a costly, unfair marketplace. Its removal is necessary to begin to repair the damage it has caused individual investors. Bring more transparency to our markets and provide an environment that deters criminal activity. If your fines are seen as a "cost of doing business", then you are not in control.