Mar. 16, 2023
I support the proposed rule that would enhance competition and transparency in the execution of marketable orders for individual investors. 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. The proposal would benefit individual investors by promoting competition and transparency to enhance the opportunity for their orders to receive more favorable prices than they receive in the current market structure, 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. The proposal establishes requirements for qualified auctions, including widely disseminated auction messages, a minimum pricing increment, and execution priority requirements. These requirements ensure that the auctions are fair and transparent, with no preferential treatment given to any participants. Furthermore, the proposal would prohibit restricted competition trading centers from executing internally a segmented order for an NMS stock unless the order was first exposed to compete in a qualified auction operated by an open competition trading center. This rule would enhance the integrity of the stock market by ensuring that all participants have an equal opportunity to compete for marketable orders. Overall, I believe that the proposed rule would have a positive impact on the integrity of the stock market, benefiting both individual and institutional investors.