(MarketsMuse.com) –Finra, the securities industry’s self-regulator sent out its first monthly “report cards” to brokerage firms warning about manipulative superfast trading practices, marking the beginning of an effort to encourage the firms to cut off traders that aren’t playing fair.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said it made the grades available to brokerage firms Thursday, identifying potential evidence of manipulative practices by firms or their customers. The report cards, which aren’t made public, focus on spoofing and layering, two practices that involve traders submitting orders they don’t intend to execute with the goal of moving prices and capitalizing on the change.

“Spoofing” is an illegal practice in which a trader with long position enters a a buy order for that security and immediately cancels it without filling the order in an effort to artificially create a demand for that security so as to induce other investors to then issue their own buy orders at a higher price, which increases the appearance of heightened demand. The first investor then closes his/her long position by selling the security at the new, higher price.

“These types of manipulation take advantage of other investors and harm public confidence in market integrity,” Finra Chairman and Chief Executive Richard Ketchum said in a news release. “We expect that the firms will use the data to enhance their own surveillance and move swiftly to cut off potential market manipulation.”

The move is part of a broader regulatory effort to stamp out devious practices in response to high-profile cases of alleged manipulation, such as​the case involving ​Navinder Sarao, the British trader accused of contributing to the 2010 stock market “Flash Crash.”

Finra wouldn’t say how many firms received the report cards, but a spokesman said it was “a large number.”

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Duncan Niederauer, the chief executive of NYSE Group, is stepping down sooner than expected after selling the company to Intercontinental Exchange Group.

The “rapid integration” of the two companies will speed up Niederauer’s retirement, according to a statement on Thursday.

The 55-year-old Niederauer, who has served as CEO of NYSE since 2007, will continue as president of ICE until August.Thomas Farley, the chief operating officer of NYSE, will succeed Niederauer, taking the title of president of NYSE.

Niederauer agreed to sell New York Stock Exchange to the derivatives-centric ICE in an $11 billion deal that closed late last year.

As the long-time boss of the Big Board, he oversaw the exchange during a disruptive time when high-speed computers replaced human traders on Wall Street.

The deal to sell the NYSE to ICE was also driven by big changes roiling the markets, reflecting the growing importance of derivatives and the diminishing influence of the Big Board.

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