Mar. 31, 2023
ATS (Alternative Trading Systems) should submit fully 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 in a clear and direct language. This would help allow for household investors to understand how ATS operate and how their orders are executed. The ATS should also provide detailed information on their systems and operations to the SEC including data regarding order routing practices, execution of orders, and information about the use of dark pools within their practice to help ensure compliance within the regulatory requirements. ATS should operate in a way that is in line with the broader regulatory structure of the securities markets for the benefit of household investors by promoting fair and transparent trading practices. Sending orders to a wholesaler for internalization should be the only option available to investors. People should be able to choose where their investment capital goes and the route which it takes to get there. Competition in the marketplace is beneficial for household investors and practices such as PFOF should be banned as it conflicts with this competition. As a household investor I support this bill in its current language.