The SEC has proposed rescinding Regulation NMS Rules 611 and 610(e), a market-structure shift that could reduce routing complexity in equities and indirectly aid tokenized securities venues if adopted.
The SEC has proposed rescinding Regulation NMS Rule 611, known as the trade-through rule, along with Rule 610(e), reopening debate over whether those rules still protect investors or mainly add complexity to U.S. equity-market routing. Rule 611 was designed to prevent trades from executing at prices worse than protected quotes displayed on other venues, while Rule 610(e) addresses locked and crossed quotations. If finalized, the changes would remove part of the routing framework that has shaped U.S. stock trading since the mid-2000s and could shift greater emphasis toward execution competition and execution quality rather than mandatory venue interaction. The proposal does not directly target crypto or tokenized equities, but firms building tokenized securities platforms and blockchain-based alternative trading systems are likely to watch closely because a simpler market-structure regime could reduce friction for alternative execution models. The measure remains a proposal and is still open to public comment.