The new controls on big finance do not end with banker's compensation. The SEC yesterday came one step closer to banning "flash orders" in an effort to restore some fairness to daily stock trading. Flash trades, as the WSJ explains, "give certain large traders sneak peeks at market activity" for up to half a second before they commit to a transaction. According to the WSJ, "SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro said flash orders may result in a 'two-tiered market' and noted 'the interests of long-term investors should be upheld as against those of professional short-term traders when those interests are in conflict.'" The Washington Post reports that the proposal to ban flash orders is part of a larger initiative to level the playing field for traders. Up next in the SEC's sites, are high-frequency trading practices and so-called "dark pools, which allow traders to buy and sell big positions without disclosing ahead of time what they're looking to trade," the newspaper writes.