Buy- and sell-side traders are among market professionals will meet in New York next week to discuss some of the most pressing issues in the equities and options spaces.

Regulation and technology will be discussed April 7 at the 80th annual Security Traders Association of New York conference, as will the creation of a new trade monitoring system, complexities of current market structure,  and the future of exchange-traded funds.

“We have about 200 people signed up so far and expect a total in the neighborhood of 400,” at the event, said Kimberly Unger, senior executive at STANY. “We’re excited about this year’s agenda and the special program surrounding developments in the CAT.”

The CAT, or Consolidated Audit Trail, will be in heightened focus as more details surrounding the trade monitoring system are made public over the course of this year. Unger noted that a separate meeting, scheduled for April 6 at Google’s New York headquarters, has been arranged to field comments and questions about the CAT.

The event, “Impact of CAT on the Industry – Turning Compliance into Innovation” will be moderated by CNBC. Panelists include: Joe Mecane, global head of electronic equities product at Barclays; Brett Redfearn, Americas head of market structure strategy, J.P. Morgan; Corrie Elston, chief technology officer, Google Cloud Platform, and Neil Palmer, CTO, FIS Advanced Technology.

“This panel will discuss the impact of the Consolidated Audit Trail on the trading and financial services community,” Unger said. “People who attend will also meet multiple senior regulatory compliance practitioners to discuss the best practices and case studies.”

The main one-day conference opens with remarks prepared by STANY president Chuck Lugay, followed by a panel called “Regulatory Reflections – Perspectives from a Regulator, an Exchange and an Economist.” This session will be moderated by Tom Jordan, president and CEO at Jordan & Jordan. Panelists for this session include industry veteran Frank Hatheway, chief economist at Nasdaq; Crystal Kroeker, chief compliance officer, Bats Global Markets and David Shillman, associate director, Division of Trading and Markets, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The next major discussion of the day will center on the growing usage, trends and future of ETFs. The panel session, “Institutional Utilization of ETFs: Current Trends and What’s Next?”, will be run by David LaValle of State Street Global Advisors. Participants that are scheduled to share their thoughts on ETFs are Stephen Clarke, CEO, NextShares; Samara Cohen, US Head of iShares capital markets, Blackrock iShares; Bart Smith, co-head of ETF, Susquehanna International Group and Doug Yones, head of Exchange Traded Products, NYSE.

Unger added that after a brief break, the industry advocacy group will pause to celebrate the winner of its 2016 STANY award to Rick Ketchum, CEO FINRA, for his outstanding contributions to the Industry. This presentation will segue into a discussion on the current U.S. presidential race and the implications potential winners would have on the equities market.

Two subsequent sessions will focus on equity market structure and ‘marking to market’, and transparency and disclosure.