SEC rules

SEC bans naked access

Recall how 38% of all trades are naked access.

Now the SEC proposes an effective ban

(all applaud now)

The Securities and Exchange Commission voted for a proposal that would require brokerages that rent out their access to the markets to have rules in place to protect against potential mishaps from unlicensed traders.

In the practice known as "sponsored" access, brokerages that have been approved to trade on an exchange rent their access to traders, who are then able to shave milliseconds from the time it takes to access the markets.

In "naked sponsored" access, also called "unfiltered" access, the brokers do not screen orders en route to markets, making electronic trading even faster.