According to the 1992 study, , referred to as the SEC's last comprehensive review of the Investment Company Act of 1940, registered investment companies held $1.5 trillion in assets. According to Mr. Quaadman's testimony, that number is now $46.1 trillion, coming from more than 125 million accounts. The pace of change has only accelerated; some products referenced in the ICA (face amount certificate companies) are non-existent, and other products (ETFs) that don't quite fit into a…

This is a significant step towards the dismantling of Reg NMS, as it was originally adopted. Critics of the Reg NMS have long argued that the proliferation of exchanges was significantly driven by small exchanges gaming the manner in which the SEC rules allocated trading fees, and particularly by the fact that the rules rewarded quoting even when the quotes did not result in a trade. 

By reducing the reward to exchanges for providing quotes that do not result in a trade, combined…

The various exchanges seem to be preparing their own rules sets in

In this proposal, the CFTC seems to be conceding some fairly significant ground, although how much ground is not at all clear. There are a lot of contracts that are wholly unrelated to sports whose status is quite unclear under the proposal. 

Besides the question of what is in the public interest, there are two other questions that are worthy of consideration, one retrospective, one prospective.

The retrospective question is what did Congress intend by "gaming" when it…