Mar. 26, 2023
To whom it may concern, As a household investor, I fully support this rule because the proposed rule will make the stock market fairer and more transparent by promoting competition among different places where stocks are bought and sold. The rule will also ensure that Alternative Trading Systems (ATS) - which are basically platforms that match buyers and sellers of stocks - are following the same rules as regular exchanges. The SEC should reduce conflicts of interest by increasing transparency in the routing of orders by brokers and wholesalers, with investors having access to the best priced quotations available in the NMS. Furthermore, ATS should submit detailed disclosures about their operations, including how they manage conflicts of interest, how they operate their order routing practices, and how they handle customer orders. This would make it easier for investors to understand how ATS operate and how their orders are executed. Not only would this make the market fairer, SEC should establish and enforce written policies and procedures to prevent fraudulent and manipulative practices in the ATS market. This would help to protect individual investors from abusive practices and make it operate more in line with the broader securities market. Finally, competition in the marketplace is necessary to regulate markets better and barriers to competition, such as the conflicted nature of PFOF, should be removed. The SEC should prioritise creating a competitive market structure that benefits investors and encourages transparency. Sincerely, Will S.