| HN Mirror

Maybe you read this, maybe you don't.

You got a seat at the RegNMS table, but its serving food you don't actually want to eat. LTSE has been at this for 5+ years and its still at the bottom of the heap in terms of volume. Both MEMX and LTSE started within weeks of each other (Sep 2020), yet MEMX has like 40x(?) the volume. More recently 24X arrived in Nov 2025 and they are already doing more volume than LTSE.

https://www.cboe.com/us/equities/market_share/

You're selling a vibe that by trading through LTSE you're buying into "long term investing" or "long-term companies" with like minded investors, but the RegNMS seat is mostly orthogonal to the rest of the business. Note how little your three dually listed companies actually trade on LTSE. From what I can see those three had nearly zero action for 2025 Q4 AND 2026 Q1. Six months of nearly nothing. Why? Because the service that LTSE offers is the same as the other 16 lit venues. It doesn't matter where securities trade.

It's like a bunch of companies trying to sell water from a common fountain and pretending the dixie cup they serve it in really matters. You drink the water and throw away the cup. Slapping a sticker on it that says "Think LongTerm!" is mostly what I see. But I think people who love your messaging think something more is happening. It's why I made the analogy to ESG. It's just a vibe being pawned off on true believers.

At best I could say that the fees LTSE collects is a profit stream that feeds your promotion of better governance structures. But given the anemic flow in the venue, I have to assume its really not that much.

Take note of the revenues from at least the UTP for LTSE. https://www.utpplan.com/DOC/UTP_Revenue_Disclosure_Q12025.pd...

I think all of this comes down to an inherent contradiction in your mission. At best you might describe it as a tension. The RegNMS seat wants volume. You eat what you kill. But the other side of the business is trying to promote long term thinking and good corporate governance structures which has very little to do with trading - in fact - some of the attitudes from that side of the business probably frown on the trading. No short term trading! Only long term! But reality is - trading is trading. You either love it or you don't.

You can see that tension in your leadership team. LTSE is a small company but has two CEOs. I bet one is in NYC and the other in San Francisco. Two different cultures. Two different mindsets. Two teams pulling different ropes that aren't really related. You want them to be related. I get that. But they aren't.

My harping on the LTSE low volume might seem irrelevant but take note of the fact that there is a good chance that the SEC yanks Rule 611. I would expect that to pull your volume down even lower. If the SEC really makes that change, its going to be the hunger games for the little players and you'll go from having a seat at the table to being on the table.

But that might be for the best as you can focus on your real passion - designing better governance structures and encouraging companies to adopt them. The RegNMS seat is kind of a distraction for that.