SEC Eyes Sweeping Market Reforms: What Investors Get

TL;DR: Two SEC officials laid out the agency's priorities on Tuesday, October 20, at SIFMA's 2026 Annual Meeting, according to Traders Magazine. Jamie Selway, Director of the Division of Trading and Markets, and Sebastian Gomez, Deputy Director of Legal and Regulatory Policy in the Division of Corporation Finance, spoke with SIFMA's president and CEO. The agenda covers equity market structure, tokenization and extended trading hours.

The headline item is Rule 611 of Regulation NMS, known as the Order Protection Rule. The SEC has proposed rescinding it, along with the ban on locked and crossed markets in Rule 610(e). Selway said the agency has received approximately 1,200 comments in its review, which included two industry roundtables, according to Traders Magazine.

What did the SEC say about Rule 611, and when?

Selway put the timing in the first quarter of 2027. "I think that 611 for us is a Q1 event in all likelihood," he said, per Traders Magazine. He also said FINRA could issue guidance alongside SEC action, with more rulemaking possibly following.

The proposal itself dates to June 11, 2026, and carried a 60-day comment period, according to The TRADE. SEC Chair Paul Atkins said at the time that "after two decades of Rule 611, it is high time that the Commission review its unintended consequences that have hindered – rather than enhanced – the long-term growth of our markets."

Not everyone expects dramatic changes in how orders get routed. Larry Tabb of Bloomberg Intelligence told The TRADE that brokers will not change routing strategies just because Rule 611 goes away, since they remain bound by best execution rules.

Why is best execution part of the same conversation?

Because the rule being removed was one way regulators pushed brokers toward the best displayed price, and the market it was written for has changed. Selway said the SEC is examining how changes to Rule 611 should line up with updated best execution requirements. "There's lots of reasons to update best execution, not just 611, but also after-hours trading, overnight trading, or tokenization," he said, per Traders Magazine.

For you as a retail or accredited investor, best execution is the standard your broker is held to when it fills your order. How that standard gets rewritten will decide what you can ask your broker about price and routing.

When does overnight trading start?

Exchanges are preparing for 23-hour, five-day equity trading beginning December 6, according to Traders Magazine. Selway said what is new is exchanges offering that schedule with public market data and clearing overnight.

Overnight activity is still small. He estimated it at approximately 1% of consolidated equity trading volume, up from roughly 20 basis points one or two years earlier. In an October 14 speech to the Security Traders Association, he said markets will soon be 23-by-5 and then likely 24-by-7 not long after, per the SEC.

Item	What was reported	Timing	Source
Rule 611 and Rule 610(e) rescission	Proposed; SEC reviewing about 1,200 comments	Likely Q1 2027	Traders Magazine
23-hour, five-day trading	Exchanges preparing to offer it	Begins December 6	Traders Magazine
Overnight share of volume	About 1% of consolidated equity volume	Current estimate	Traders Magazine
Best execution update	Under review alongside Rule 611	No date given	Traders Magazine

The timing is firm only for the December 6 trading hours. Everything else on the list is a proposal or a stated expectation.

Why does this matter if most of your money is in private deals?

Public-market plumbing sets the price signals that private-market valuations get compared against. If you hold pre-IPO shares, fund interests or a taxable public portfolio alongside them, changes to how public orders are routed and priced reach your whole balance sheet.

There is also a direct private-markets item on the SEC's docket. Augment reports that comments on the interval-fund proposal and the accredited-investor notices are due December 4, and comments on the performance-fee proposal are due December 7, per Augment. If you have a view on who should qualify as an accredited investor, that window is open now. Our explainer on the SEC accredited investor definition covers the current rules.

The agency's stated direction is also toward lower compliance cost. The American Action Forum noted this week that an SEC proposal could yield roughly $1.1 billion in net cost savings for affected entities, according to the Commission's own analysis as relayed by AAF. Lower costs for issuers and intermediaries do not automatically mean better protection for you, so read what each rule removes before you decide it helps.

What should you watch next?

Three dates matter. December 4 and December 7 are comment deadlines on the private-markets proposals. December 6 is the start of 23-hour trading. Q1 2027 is the likely window for Rule 611. Related coverage on this site: the baby shelf rule proposal, the pattern day trader rule change and tokenized equities and onchain trading.

Traders Magazine's report does not say what the SEC will propose on tokenization or on best execution, so treat those as open questions until a proposal is published.

Common mistakes

The first mistake is treating a proposal as a rule. Rule 611 is still in force until the SEC votes to rescind it, and Selway's Q1 2027 estimate is an expectation, not a commitment.

The second is assuming overnight trading means overnight liquidity. At about 1% of volume, spreads and fills after hours can look very different from the regular session. Check how your broker handles overnight orders before you place one.

The third is relying on a repeater. Several outlets summarize these remarks. Go to the original reporting or the SEC's own text.

FAQ

What are the new SEC rules for 2026? None of the items here is final. The SEC has proposed rescinding Rule 611 and Rule 610(e), with action likely in Q1 2027, per Traders Magazine. Separate private-markets proposals have comment deadlines of December 4 and December 7.

What is happening with the SEC right now? Officials spoke at SIFMA's annual meeting on October 20 about Rule 611, best execution, tokenization and extended trading hours. Exchanges are preparing 23-hour, five-day trading from December 6.

What is Rule 611? It is the Order Protection Rule in Regulation NMS. The SEC proposed on June 11, 2026 to revoke it along with Rule 610(e), according to The TRADE.

Can the SEC close the stock market? The sources here do not address that question. They describe the agency expanding trading hours, not restricting them.

Your next step

If you hold public stocks through a broker, ask it in writing how it will handle overnight orders and best execution once 23-hour trading begins on December 6.

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