FLASH ORDERS: THE WAY INVESTORS WERE BEAT

The Securities and Exchange Commission voted unanimously to ban flash orders. According to the SEC filing "A flash allows a person who has not publicly displayed a quote to see orders less than a second before the public is given an opportunity to trade with those orders. Investors who have access only to information displayed as public quotes may be harmed if market participants are able to flash orders and avoid the need to make the order publicly available."

"Flash orders may create a two-tiered market by allowing only selected participants to access information about the best available prices for listed securities," said SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro. "These flash orders provide a momentary head-start in the trading arena that can produce inequities in the markets and create disincentives to display quotes."

Flash orders are one of the many ways that wealthy investors have been taking individual investors and traders to the cleaners for years. Up until now, politicians and agencies created to oversea criminal activities on WallStreet, have turned a blind eye to practices such as these. This is a sad time in America when a few wealthy bankers on Wallstreet can manipulate markets with the blessing of the government. Even casino's are better regulated. The very existence of the SEC has for decades gave people the confidence to invest their hard earned savings. The SEC has just been operating as a co-conspirator in the Wallstreet confidence game.

At least finally, the SEC is doing it's job but, will people trust them in the future? Obviously, it would be shear ignorance to trust the Wallstreet banking elite.

The following is more detail regarding their decision on flash orders, released on the SEC web site:

"The Commission today voted unanimously to propose the elimination of the flash order exception from Rule 602. If adopted, the proposed amendment would effectively prohibit all markets - including equity exchanges, options exchanges, and alternative trading systems - from displaying marketable flash orders.

In its proposal, the Commission is seeking public comment and data on a broad range of issues relating to flash orders, including the costs and benefits associated with the proposal. It also seeks comment on whether the use of flash orders in the options markets should be evaluated differently than their use in the equity markets.

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Public comments on today's proposal must be received by the Commission within 60 days after its publication in the Federal Register."

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