SEC Trading and Markets Compliance Guides: What They Cover
A verified list of SEC Division of Trading and Markets compliance guides, covering settlement, broker-dealer rules, Regulation SHO, and more.
The SEC Division of Trading and Markets Compliance Guides page provides a list of guides that explain specific SEC rules for small entities and other market participants. This article summarizes the guides listed on that page, based on the page's own titles. It does not interpret the rules or assess whether they apply to any particular firm.
What the page lists
The page contains a collection of small entity compliance guides and related materials. Each title refers to a particular rule or set of amendments under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 or other securities laws.
- Amendment to Securities Transaction Settlement Cycle — A Small Entity Compliance Guide (c01)
- Broker-Dealer Financial Responsibility Rules: 2013 Amendments to Exchange Act Rules 15c3-1, 15c3-3, 17a-3, 17a-4, and 17a-11 (c02)
- Broker-Dealer Financial Responsibility Rules: 2013 Amendments to Exchange Act Rules 17a-5 and 17a-11 and Adoption of Form Custody (c03)
- Final Model Privacy Form Under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (c04)
- Form CRS Relationship Summary & Form ADV Amendments: A Small Entity Compliance Guide (c05)
- Regulation Best Interest: Small Entity Compliance Guide (c06)
- Regulation M: Short Selling in Connection with a Public Offering: Amendments to Rule 105 of Regulation M (c07)
- Regulation R: Exceptions for Banks from the Definition of Broker in the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (c08)
- Regulation S-AM: Limitations on Affiliate Marketing (c09)
- Regulation SHO: Short Sale Price Test Restrictions (c10)
- Regulation SHO: Amendment to Regulation SHO to Adopt Exchange Act Rule 204 (c11)
- Regulation SHO: Amendment to Eliminate the Options Market Maker Exception in Exchange Act Rule 203(b)(3) of Regulation SHO (c12)
- Regulation SHO: Amendment to Regulation SHO to Adopt Exchange Act Rule 204T (c13)
- Regulation SHO: Amendments to Exchange Act Rule 10a-1 and Rules 201 and 200(g) of Regulation SHO (c14)
- Regulation SHO: Amendments to Exchange Act Rules 203(b)(3) and 200(e) of Regulation SHO (c15)
- Rule 10b-21: Adoption of "Naked" Short Selling Antifraud Rule, Exchange Act Rule 10b-21 (c16)
- Rule 15c3-5 — Risk Management Controls for Brokers or Dealers with Market Access (c17)
How the guides group by topic
The listed guides cover several areas of market regulation. One group addresses settlement and broker-dealer financial responsibility. Another group focuses on short selling and Regulation SHO. A third group covers conduct standards and disclosure, including Form CRS and Regulation Best Interest. Other guides address privacy and affiliate marketing.
| Topic area | Guides (claim IDs) |
|---|---|
| Settlement cycle | c01 |
| Broker-dealer financial responsibility and custody | c02, c03, c17 |
| Privacy and affiliate marketing | c04, c09 |
| Conduct standards and disclosure | c05, c06 |
| Short selling and Regulation SHO | c07, c10, c11, c12, c13, c14, c15, c16 |
| Bank broker exceptions | c08 |
This grouping is an editorial observation based on the titles. The source page does not itself organize the guides into these categories.
What a compliance guide is and is not
A compliance guide, as the titles indicate, is a document that explains a rule for a specific audience, often small entities. The source page lists titles only. It does not provide the full text of the guides, nor does it state effective dates or compliance deadlines for each rule. A guide is not the rule itself. The rule text, as adopted by the SEC, is the authoritative source for legal obligations.
For a reader checking whether a platform or service is available in a particular U.S. state, these guides are not a state-by-state availability chart. They address federal securities rules and, in some cases, how those rules apply to certain entities. State-level licensing or eligibility requirements are outside the scope of the listed titles.
Timeline and status considerations
The source page is a list of guides, not a chronological history. The titles reference amendments from various years, such as the 2013 amendments to broker-dealer financial responsibility rules (c02, c03). However, the page does not state when each guide was published or updated. Therefore, the list alone cannot be used to determine the current status of any rule or the sequence of amendments.
To understand the current state of a rule, a reader would need to consult the rule's adopting release and any subsequent amendments. The compliance guides may be helpful summaries, but they are not a substitute for the official rule text.
What the source does not say
The source page is a collection of titles. It does not state the publication date of each guide, the effective date of any rule, or whether a guide has been superseded. It does not explain the content of the guides or provide instructions on how to comply. It does not address state-level regulation, crypto assets specifically, or the availability of any platform in any U.S. state. It also does not indicate whether the list is complete or current.
Practical takeaway
Use the page as an index of topics. If a title matches a rule you need to understand, locate the full guide and the underlying rule text through official SEC channels. For questions about account eligibility or service availability in a particular state, the compliance guides listed here are not the right resource. They concern federal securities rule compliance for entities such as broker-dealers, not consumer-facing availability maps.
Sources
Informational only. Not financial, legal or investment advice. Check the primary sources listed above before you act on anything here.