Michael Lewis letter to the SEC about the IEX exchange

Subject: File No. 10-222
From: Michael Lewis
Affiliation: Author

December 12, 2015

It's been interesting to read the public accounts of the money
and time spent by high frequency traders and the existing public
stock exchanges, to lobby your agency and other government
officials, to prevent IEX from becoming a public exchange.

That is, to prevent an honest competitor from introducing
an innovation into the U.S. stock market that promises to
benefit not only investors in that market but the entire
U.S. economy-at the expense of high frequency traders
and the existing public stock exchanges. IEX represents a
market solution to a messy problem. It was created to protect
investors against the predatory trading of high frequency
traders. It has proven itself capable of doing so. If it is allowed
to become a public exchange it will surely further reduce the
tax levied by Wall Street intermediaries on U.S. stock market
investors, and, in the bargain, introduce a new spirit of fairness
to that market. I urge that the U.S. government authorities
tasked with supervising the U.S. stock market move briskly
to enable IEX to become a public exchange. 

Sincerely,

Michael Lewis