Better Markets Backs SEC CAT Funding Order as 154 Trillion Annual Events Test Market Oversight
Updated
Updated · Better Markets · Jul 9
Better Markets Backs SEC CAT Funding Order as 154 Trillion Annual Events Test Market Oversight
1 articles · Updated · Better Markets · Jul 9
Summary
Better Markets filed an amicus brief in the Eleventh Circuit backing the SEC’s funding order for the Consolidated Audit Trail, arguing the court should not let industry groups defund the system.
The group said CAT is regulators’ only cross-market, order-level surveillance tool, tracking trading across 29 exchanges, 109 alternative trading systems and thousands of broker-dealers in real time.
It argued older oversight systems are no longer a fallback: FINRA retired its own audit trail in 2021, and remaining data captures executed trades but not the orders, routes and cancellations needed to spot manipulation.
Better Markets said CAT is already helping detect spoofing, front-running and insider trading, while its fees are only 400 to 900 times smaller than ordinary transaction costs.
The filing frames the case as a choice between a small shared industry cost and preserving a market-policing system overseeing a securities market worth more than $100 trillion.
Does the CAT’s surveillance power truly protect investors, or does it risk exposing personal data without clear legal safeguards?
Could shifting CAT’s funding to the SEC’s congressional budget resolve concerns about accountability, costs, and privacy, or would it introduce new challenges?