Truth Serum: SEC's Options Crusade Overlooks Investors' Interests

Last week, the tough-talking Securities and Exchange Commission took the four major options exchanges to the woodshed, claiming they had colluded for years to limit listing of certain options to the detriment of individual investors.

But next time around, when the world decides that paying brokers to send options orders to a particular exchange has damaged investors, the SEC may have only itself to blame.

Amen to the notion that SEC chieftain Arthur Levitt is the champion of the little guy, but the SEC's tinkering in the options market and unwillingness to address the payment-for-order-flow issue may leave investors in a far worse position than before. ...