Hyperliquid backs the SEC’s repeal of the trade-through rule, calling for the establishment of best execution guidelines for on-chain markets.

In June, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed repealing Rule 611 (the trade-through rule), a core provision of Regulation NMS (Reg NMS), as well as the ban on locked or crossed quotes, arguing that order processing should be governed by market competition and brokers’ best execution obligations. HPC (Hyperliquid Policy Center) and Douro Labs (a core contributor to the Pyth Network) jointly submitted a comment letter backing the proposal, urging the SEC to provide principle-based best execution guidance for on-chain markets. The letter noted that Rule 611 is premised on all venues pre-disclosing quotes and having a central information processing system aggregate them into the National Best Bid and Offer (NBBO), a framework fundamentally incompatible with how on-chain transactions actually operate. Automated Market Maker (AMM)-type venues do not pre-disclose quotes, with prices determined in real time during trades based on liquidity pools; on-chain order books, meanwhile, operate entirely outside of centralized quote systems. It also called on the SEC to confirm that tokenized Reg NMS stocks remain subject to Reg NMS’s investor protection framework, adding that protections should not vary based on the settlement ledger used. Repealing Rule 611 would allow market structure to evolve through competition rather than regulatory design, and the letter recommended that when the NBBO is missing or does not reflect on-chain conditions, independent reference prices based on transparent, manipulation-resistant methodologies be recognized.