SEC Chairwoman Mary Schapiro indicated in a statement that the agency is considering a measure that would ban flash trading, however such a move would need to be approved by the agency's five-person commission.
  "We salute the SEC for moving forward with this ban that will restore integrity to the markets. The agency is absolutely making the right call by stepping up and ending this unfair practice," Schumer said.
  Flash orders are trades that flash in milliseconds to only a select group of market participants which can disadvantage other investors. Traders with access to the information because of super-fast computers can act on it quickly to trade ahead of other traders, influencing the pricing of stocks.
    A ban would reverse decisions since at least 2004, when the SEC first approved the systems at the Boston Options Exchange. Nasdaq OMX Group Inc., Bats Global Markets, Direct Edge Holdings LLC and the CBOE Stock Exchange give information to their clients about orders for a fraction of a second before the trades are routed to rival platforms.