There was a time when you would have to pay commissions every time you bought or sold a stock -- with these fees costing you anywhere from $8 to $10 per transaction. This all changed in recent years.

Robinhood was one of the first to offer commission-free trading, and in 2019 several online brokerages -- like Charles Schwab, E*Trade, and TD Ameritrade -- followed suit. Commission-free trading was possible because brokers began routing trades through companies known as market makers, which handle orders and take a few pennies on every order they handle.

The practice has been the subject of scrutiny from regulators, who threatened to ban it altogether. This would have crushed market makers like Virtu Financial (NASDAQ: VIRT). However, with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announcing it wouldn't ban the practice, is Virtu Financial a buy?

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Source Fool.com