Registration as a national securities exchange provides several attractive benefits that may make this option more suitable to the business objectives of certain alternative trading systems. The primary advantage of exchange registration is the relative autonomy that exchanges enjoy in their daily operation. Exchanges are SROs, and are thus subject to
surveillance and oversight only by the Commission. Consequently, any alternative trading system that elects exchange registration would not be subject to oversight by a competing national securities exchange or national securities association.162 Similarly, as a national securities exchange, an alternative trading system would be able to establish its own rules of conduct, trading rules, and fee structures for external access. An alternative trading system registered as a broker-dealer, on the other hand, would have to comply with the rules of the SRO to which it belongs, including any rules regarding the automatic execution of small orders