Right now there's a battle over upstart trading platform IEX’s application for exchange status. And it's become an existential test of the SEC’s role in the capital markets. On one side, IEX is trying to make markets fairer for long-term investors by mitigating the market manipulation and other shenanigans identified by Michael Lewis in his 2014 book “Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt.” On the other side, exchanges — like BATS Global Markets (BATS), Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) — and high frequency trading firms (HFTs) seek to protect the ill-gotten privileges that facilitate their riskless parasitic profit ... READ MORE
