Important developments in U.S. securities law, white collar criminal defense, regulatory enforcement and other emerging issues impacting financial services institutions, publicly traded companies and private investment funds
By Brian Friedman, Harry Frischer and Philip Arnold on Posted in Financial Services
On November 24, 2015, the CFTC announced the new proposed Regulation Automated Trading (“Reg. AT”), which contains a variety of measures designed to prevent potential market disruptions arising from algorithmic trading. Among other things, Reg. AT proposes certain pre-trade risk and order management controls, the implementation of policies and procedures governing algorithmic trading, and additional … Continue Reading
The SEC announced this week its proposal to substantially overhaul the rules regarding alternative trading systems (“ATS”), often referred to as dark pools. The proposed rules would require firms operating ATSs to make additional disclosure about business activities that may present conflicts of interest between firms and ATS subscribers, and considerable information as to how … Continue Reading
On November 2, 2015, the Director of the SEC Division of Enforcement Andrew Ceresney spoke at the “SIFMA Compliance & Legal Society New York Regional Seminar” and outlined the SEC’s enforcement priorities with respect to market structure issues. This is yet another response by regulators to the growth of algorithmic trading and alternative trading venues, … Continue Reading
On October 21, 2015, CFTC Chair Timothy Massad spoke at the “Evolving Structure of the U.S. Treasury Market” conference organized by the U.S. Department of Treasury and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. His remarks came the day after SEC Chair Mary Jo White’s comments, which we blogged about here, and follow this summer’s … Continue Reading
On October 20, 2015, SEC Chair Mary Jo White gave the keynote address at the “Evolving Structure of the U.S. Treasury Market” conference organized by the U.S. Department of Treasury and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The conference and speech follow this summer’s Joint Staff Report analyzing the significant volatility that the U.S. … Continue Reading
Potentially abusive trading algorithms, such as algorithms that purportedly engage in “spoofing” or “layering” are the subject of considerable regulatory interest. However, in an interesting complaint filed on October 19, 2015, the CFTC alleged that a firm manually entering futures orders engaged in illegal spoofing that appears to have lured algorithmic traders into the market. … Continue Reading
Mistakes in computer coding by a high frequency trading firm that went undetected for approximately four years were responsible for approximately 12.6 million orders that violated Reg NMS, according to an Order settling an enforcement proceeding with Latour Trading LLC, announced by the SEC on September 30. These noncompliant orders involved more than $4.6 billion … Continue Reading
Last week, SDNY Judge Jesse Furman issued a 51 page decision in In Re: Barclays Liquidity Cross and High Frequency Trading Litigation dismissing all of the cases consolidated under the MDL. In these cases, investor plaintiffs asserted federal securities law claims under Section 10(b) and 6(b) of the Exchange Act against seven stock exchanges, Barclays … Continue Reading
In the latest round of regulatory action involving high frequency trading and dark pools, the SEC announced yesterday that it reached a settlement with ITG, Inc., and its affiliate Alternet Securities, Inc., imposing a $20.3 million sanction based on ITG’s misuse of confidential order information to benefit the firm’s proprietary high-frequency trading.… Continue Reading
On March 25, 2015, the SEC proposed an amendment to Rule 15b9-1 that would require high-frequency trading firms to register with FINRA. According to the SEC, the proposed amendment will better align the scope of Rule 15b9-1 with today’s market structure. Rule 15b9-1, as presently written, exempts certain market participants from the requirement under the … Continue Reading
In the latest regulatory action addressing high frequency and other algorithmic trading, a recent FINRA Regulatory Notice seeks comment on a proposed rule change under which persons associated with a member firm would be required to register as Equity Traders under Rule 1032(f) if they are primarily responsible for the design, development or significant modification … Continue Reading
Ruling on Barclays’ motion to dismiss the action brought by the New York Attorney General regarding Barclays’ alternative trading system (“ATS”), Justice Shirley Kornreich suggested that the AG may face substantial hurdles in proving its case, although the Court narrowly upheld the Martin Act claim as a matter of law. The AG based its claim … Continue Reading
On January 12, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it had obtained a $14 million settlement against two exchanges formerly owned by Direct Edge Holdings, EDGA and EDGX (the “Respondent Exchanges”) for their failure to file Exchange Rules that accurately described the order types they offered, and for providing preferential disclosure to certain … Continue Reading
FINRA’s recently-released Regulatory and Examinations Priorities Letter for 2015 reflects substantial regulatory interest in high-frequency trading and other issues arising from trading technology. Regulatory concern over these issues has been previously reported on this blog here and here. The 2015 Letter states that FINRA has adapted its surveillance program to identify potentially violative conduct such … Continue Reading
Bringing quantitative analyses to the debate over high-frequency trading, two working papers recently made available by the SEC’s Division of Economic and Risk Analysis present economic models suggesting that there are market benefits from certain forms of high-frequency and low-latency trading. In light of the on-going interest in high-frequency trading among various regulators, the recognition of … Continue Reading
Regulators across markets continue to show interest in high frequency trading and algorithmic trading generally. Recent developments in this area include: On October, 16, 2014, the SEC imposed a $1 million sanction on a high frequency trading firm, Athena Capital Research, which allegedly placed large numbers of rapid-fire orders in the final two seconds of … Continue Reading
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