Welcome to the February edition of The Monitor.
This month, prediction markets are a central focus for us and for many of the firms we speak with. As event-driven trading gains traction and public attention grows, questions around market integrity, surveillance readiness, and oversight processes are emerging earlier than many expected. At the same time, trading continues to expand beyond traditional sessions and best execution review is becoming more continuous, pushing firms to rethink how oversight operates across markets, venues, and trading hours.
We are hearing similar questions from trading and compliance leaders. How should surveillance adapt when trading activity concentrates around specific events? What does defensible best execution review look like in more continuous markets? How should firms prepare for emerging environments like tokenized securities or new trading models where expectations form quickly? These are the practical considerations shaping oversight decisions today.
In this month’s Monitor, we share what we are watching most closely and what it may mean for your team. We cover the growth of prediction markets and the market integrity questions highlighted by recent activity, what is surfacing on regulatory radar, the expansion of 23/5 trading, and how daily best execution analytics can help teams stay ahead of evolving oversight expectations. We hope this issue helps you navigate what’s next.
— Lisa Balter Saacks, President, Trillium Surveyor
Event Spotlight: Surveyor Sip ‘N Connect- Building a Stronger Women in Finance Community
We recently hosted our third, and now annual, Galentine’s Sip ’N Connect. It was truly a special evening bringing women across the industry together not just professionally, but personally. The best moments came from shared stories and genuine willingness to support one another.
What started as a small idea has grown into a strong and supportive network built on connections and community and we’re excited to keep growing this group together.
Interested in joining a future Sip ’N Connect or know someone who would value this community? We’d love to include you. Feel free to share your contact information or pass this along to colleagues who would appreciate the network we’re building.
Feature Spotlight: Daily Best Execution Analytics
As trading activity extends beyond traditional sessions and market conditions shift more quickly, many teams are rethinking how they review execution performance. Periodic review cycles often cannot keep pace with continuous markets, and firms are looking for more consistent visibility into routing decisions, execution quality, and performance trends.
This is exactly where we are seeing demand increase. Firms want clearer daily insight into how they traded, why outcomes occurred, and how to support defensible oversight as market conditions evolve.
Surveyor’s Best Execution Analytics helps teams:
- Monitor execution performance daily rather than relying on periodic review cycles
- Identify routing and pricing anomalies as market conditions change
- Analyze execution quality across venues and order types
- Support best execution review with clear, defensible data
- Reduce manual data preparation with automated analytics and reporting
- Strengthen documentation for supervisory and committee review
As markets become more continuous and expectations around execution oversight rise, daily analytics help trading and compliance teams maintain consistent review processes, improve transparency, and respond more quickly to changing market conditions.
Regulatory Radar
- Extended hours trading oversight expectations grow
Regulators expect firms to monitor overnight activity with the same rigor as core sessions, prompting teams to review whether their surveillance and execution technology operates consistently across trading hours. (FINRA)
- Cross-venue surveillance expectations rise
Regulators expect firms to detect patterns across related products and venues, reinforcing the need for a more unified view of trading activity as fragmented monitoring can miss coordinated behavior. (FINRA Cross-Market Supervision Reports) - AI monitoring falls under existing supervision rules
AI tools must operate within governance frameworks with clear oversight, explainability, and supervisory accountability. Our approach emphasizes responsible AI that supports clear reasoning and defensible supervisory outcomes. (FINRA)
- Best execution depends on accurate data and vendor controls
Regulators expect firms to validate routing data and vendor inputs, increasing focus on data quality and execution analytics that support reliable performance review. (FINRA 2026 Regulatory Oversight Report)
Market Structure and Compliance Trends
23/5 Trading Moves Closer to Reality
Extended and overnight trading continues to expand as major exchanges including Nasdaq and NYSE advance longer trading models alongside overnight venues. What was once limited activity is becoming a regular part of market trading.
In our conversations with trading and compliance teams, the focus is shifting from if extended trading will scale to how oversight and execution review will adapt. Longer sessions introduce new liquidity dynamics, more continuous price formation, and different monitoring expectations across time zones and trading windows. Many firms are reassessing whether surveillance logic, escalation workflows, and execution review processes designed for traditional sessions support more continuous markets.
We are seeing increased interest in technology that operates consistently across trading hours, supports daily execution insight, and provides clear documentation as markets move toward more continuous activity.
Prediction Markets and Early Market Integrity Expectations
Prediction markets are growing fast, with major events like the Super Bowl driving record activity and putting market integrity in focus. Using prediction market data we ingest from early market participants, we saw over 2 million orders and 350 alerts tied to concentrated trading around the big game.
This shows how quickly oversight expectations are taking shape. As firms explore these markets, the focus is on detecting unusual activity, managing event-driven risk, and supporting clear, defensible review as trading concentrates around specific outcomes.
Across the industry, the focus is shifting to how monitoring adapts when activity concentrates around external events and binary outcomes. Questions around informational advantage, escalation thresholds, and defensible supervisory decisions are becoming central considerations as firms explore participation.
More broadly, prediction markets reflect a shift in how new trading environments develop. Market integrity, documentation, and supervisory processes are expected from the outset rather than added later, prompting firms to establish oversight frameworks designed to scale with emerging market structures.
Poll: Prediction Markets
As prediction markets grow, we’re working with early market participants to support market integrity and oversight.
What is top of mind for your firm as event contracts grow?
- Liquidity patterns
- Market integrity
- Settlement clarity
- Regulatory direction
Our Social Calendar
Upcoming
FIA Boca- Let’s Connect
Our President, Lisa Balter Saacks is looking forward to attending FIA Boca and connecting with other industry leaders to discuss evolving market structure, surveillance considerations, and emerging oversight priorities.
Attending BOCA? Reach out to schedule a 1:1 discussion with Lisa.
SIFMA C&L Annual Seminar – Visit us at Booth 118
We’re proud to sponsor SIFMA’s Compliance & Legal Seminar. Stop by Booth 118 for shade protection, the compliance socks everyone will be rocking, and conversation on prediction markets, 23/5 trading, and how firms are evolving surveillance and analytics to meet these evolving market demands.
Let’s Connect!
Let’s discuss how your team can stay ready as markets evolve and oversight expectations grow. Set up a brief time to chat here.
