“To avoid tipping their hand to other investors, institutions such as mutual and pension funds have been shunning traditional stock markets in favor of alternative arenas known as “dark pools,” where they can theoretically mask their moves. The idea is to avoid driving up the price of a stock before the institutions can buy a large number of shares and to avoid driving down the price before they can liquidate a major stake.”

“But one of those dark pools, Pipeline Trading Systems, has been secretly trading ahead of its customers’ orders, the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged Monday.”

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