Brokerage Commissions Collapse 45% As Independent Research Gains Steam

Institutional equity brokers have been having a difficult time for the last eight years, and it’s not getting better. Trading commissions paid by the most substantial hedge funds and the institutional investor clients have fallen again, according to research put together by Greenwich Associates, a market intelligence and advisory firm. The move to lower commissions is endemic of a trend towards computer automation and away from brokerage financed research.

The days of high brokerage commissions supported by the rationale that it pays for quality research are over. For the eighth straight year, brokerage commissions have slipped, this time to $7.65 billion,...