In December 2022, the SEC issued four core Market Structure Proposals, which painted a stark picture of U.S. equities markets—one fraught with entrenched institutional interests taking advantage of naive retail investors and perpetuating certain industry practices that harm the integrity of market structure. Even though the industry clearly recognizes the importance of having a robust market structure framework, the SEC’s proposed rules have not been well received.

This report introduces the details of the new SEC Market Structure Proposals, analyzes the pros and cons of each proposal, suggests how proposals should be adopted, and provides spending estimates on regulatory compliance. It is based on qualitative interviews with leading broker-dealers, asset managers, hedge funds, various types of execution venues, and global vendors focused on trading.

Clients of Datos Insights’ Capital Markets service can download this report.