SEC OKs Cheaper Overhaul for Stock Trade Tracking System
Published Date: 4/1/2026
Notice
Summary
The SEC approved changes to the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) plan that help stock exchanges and regulators save money on tracking trades. These updates cut costs without slowing down how trade data is collected and shared. The new rules kick in soon, making the system cheaper and more efficient for everyone involved.
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.
Fewer Regular Interim Order IDs; Ad Hoc Requests Allowed
The Interim CAT-Order-ID Amendment removes the daily requirement to deliver interim CAT-Order-IDs and instead allows the Plan Processor to create interim CAT-Order-IDs only upon ad hoc requests from authorized regulatory users (Participants or the Commission). CAT LLC estimated this change could save about $2 to $3 million per year in cloud hosting fees, would incur a one-time implementation change request fee of about $225,000, and individual ad hoc interim-run requests could cost roughly $8,000 to $12,000 each depending on data volumes.
Shorter Data Retention and Deletion Rules
The Data Storage Amendment permits deleting all CAT data older than three years, OMM Quotes older than six months, Interim Operational Data older than 15 days, and Options SIP Data older than six months. These changes shorten retention periods compared with earlier rules and exemptive relief and are intended to reduce storage and processing costs for the CAT.
Customer Personal Data Removed From CAT
The Commission approved removing the requirement to report customer names, addresses, and dates of birth to the CAT and requires deletion of previously reported customer names, addresses, and dates of birth from the CAIS. The CAIS Amendment was estimated to produce about $7 to $9 million in annual cost savings.
Your PRIA Score
Personalized for You
How does this regulation affect your finances?
Sign up for a PRIA Policy Scan to see your personalized alignment score for this federal register document and every other regulation we track. We analyze your financial profile against policy provisions to show you exactly what matters to your wallet.
Key Dates
Department and Agencies
Take It Personal
Get Your Personalized Policy View
Start a Free Government Policy Watch to see how policy affects your household, then upgrade to PRIA Full Coverage for year-round monitoring.
Already have an account? Sign in