It's interesting to think about what would happen if all restrictions from markets were removed. There would be plenty of order-stuffing and price shenanigans.

It's interesting to think about what would happen if all restrictions from markets were removed. There would be plenty of order-stuffing and price shenanigans. One could argue that is happening already, just in a sophisticated way that avoids detection. At least in an unrestricted market all the participants would know that that was going on. People who simply want to buy and hold, or sell a stock at the market price don't generally care about the noise. They can see the macro trend and trade accordingly. Speculators (ahem 'liquidity providers')play their games with each other and price discovery happens. The issue with regulation is that it's a game of whack-a-mole with the regulators perennially trying to catch up with the players. Outlawing each new gaming strategy as it appears ends up with a raft of complex rules that can distort the market as much as the behaviour they're trying to prevent.