Does the Volcker Rule apply to brokerage firms?

External question — Personal Finance Stack Exchange Author: Mustard Tiger Original post: https://money.stackexchange.com/questions/71146 License: CC BY-SA 3.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ Adaptation: HTML converted to plain text; contact email addresses removed. The Volcker Rule states that it: prohibits any banking entity from engaging in proprietary trading or from acquiring or retaining an ownership interest in, sponsoring, or having certain relationships with a hedge fund or private equity fund (“covered fund”), subject to certain exemptions Does this rule prohibit brokerage firms, or can they still engage in prop trading? I am looking into several brokerage firms and would like to know what restrictions they face. (If brokerage firms within large banks are more regulated in terms of prop trading than smaller stand alone brokerage firms.)