SEC to vote on part of stock-trading revamp

The Securities and Exchange Commission will vote next week on some of the biggest revisions to stock-market rules in almost two decades, including how trades are priced and processed.

The SEC's commissioners are scheduled to decide Wednesday whether to complete measures that would alter the way brokers, market makers and exchange businesses operate. One would change the way stock exchanges negotiate rebates with brokers to attract more volume to their exchanges, a procedure known as "payment for order flow." Another would tweak minimum pricing increments for stock trades, according to the agency's agenda.

The SEC released the proposals in December 2022 in an attempt at making the market more fair and transparent. The effort was largely in response to the meme-stock-trading frenzy.

A disclosure proposal was completed in March, forcing retail brokerages to release data similar to exchanges, wholesale firms and alternative trading systems.

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But the most controversial measure isn't on Wednesday's agenda. That proposal would require market-making firms and major stock exchanges to engage in auctions for the right to process equity orders within milliseconds. It drew criticism from the likes of market makers Virtu Financial and Citadel Securities — wholesalers that take in a significant amount of brokers' trade orders.