The U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission’s Division of Trading and Markets hosted a Roundtable on Trade-Through Prohibitions to gather market input on the future of the Regulation NMS trade-through framework, particularly Rule 611. The discussion is intended to inform the Commission’s next steps, including whether the current trade-through prohibitions and their exceptions remain fit for purpose and how they compare with other investor-protection mechanisms such as the duty of best execution. The Division framed Rule 611 as part of a broader set of interconnected market structure choices, including access fee restrictions and market data standardization, and signalled that the topic would be explored with public input and potentially further roundtables. The agenda included a presentation from the Office of Analytics and Research drawing on recently published data for NMS stocks and listed options, covering trade-through rates and related indicators such as broker-dealer routing patterns to exchanges and changes in displayed liquidity over the last decade, as well as longer-run changes in options market structure. Panels were structured around experience with trade-through prohibitions over the past 20 years, their role in today’s automated and connected markets, and potential paths forward.
U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission 2025-09-18
U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission convenes roundtable to inform next steps on Regulation NMS trade-through prohibitions
The U.S. SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets held a Roundtable on Trade-Through Prohibitions to assess the Regulation NMS trade-through framework, focusing on Rule 611. Discussions evaluated the framework's relevance and compared it with other investor-protection mechanisms, with insights from the Office of Analytics and Research on trade-through rates and market structure changes. The event included panels on the historical and current role of trade-through prohibitions and potential future directions.