SEC trade-through rule repeal proposed; vote week of June 9, 2026

The SEC plans to propose a full repeal of Rule 611 of Regulation NMS, the US “trade-through rule,” with a commission vote scheduled for the week of June 9, 2026. The trade-through rule, adopted in 2005, requires brokers to route orders to the venue displaying the best price to prevent executions at inferior quotes. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins previously dissented when the rule was adopted, arguing it could create market distortions and “gamesmanship.” The repeal push gained momentum after an SEC roundtable on September 18, 2025, where participants cited high compliance costs, market fragmentation, and reduced competition. Crypto relevance: legal analyses suggest changes to the trade-through rule could help trading tokenized securities. On-chain venues do not map neatly to traditional “protected quotations,” so removing the protected-quotation routing constraint may reduce friction for tokenized assets to trade alongside conventional securities. No specific tokens or digital assets were named. Next steps: a proposal would be followed by a public comment period before any final rule change. For crypto and traditional market participants, this could affect expectations for how order-routing rules apply to tokenized markets—though timing and final scope remain uncertain.