Senator Warren raises important questions about enforcement patterns against corporate officers. Her criticisms fall into three categories: (i) the penalty imposed was too light; (ii) the government should have taken the offender to court rather than entering into an out-of-court settlement; and (iii) individuals at the relevant entity should have been charged.

The first two criticisms are likely to be met with skepticism. From the vantage of those who work within the…

Given the scope of its responsibilities under Dodd-Frank, the CFTC is underfunded. Many of those responsibilities might be ill-conceived, but that is not the fault of the CFTC; the blame belongs with Congress. Indeed, Chair Massad has pointed out that the CFTC is in the process of reducing some of the burdens it had imposed previously. Even so, progress in that direction should be faster.

That said, it is difficult to feel sympathy for an agency that continues to push for rules…

It is unclear why anyone would elect to register as a Funding Portal: a lot of rules without material opportunity for profit.  

The NYSE's most interesting proposal was for stop-loss orders (which the NYSE acknowledged come largely from retail investors) not to be accepted during times of market downturn. This effectively would prevent retail investors (who cannot watch the markets interminably) from selling automatically when institutional investors (who always watch the markets) sell deliberately. It is reasonable to argue that this would protect retail investors by limiting their ability to cause, or sell…