Options Price Reporting Authority; Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed Amendment to the Plan for Reporting of Consolidated Options Last Sale Reports and Quotation Information To Implement a New Fee for “Non-Display Applications”, 49837-49839 [2012-20263]
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Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 160 / Friday, August 17, 2012 / Notices
submit a request for hearing or petition
for leave to intervene. Submissions
should be in Portable Document Format
(PDF) in accordance with the NRC
guidance available on the NRC’s public
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considered complete at the time the
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Upon receipt of a transmission, the EFiling system time-stamps the document
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document to the NRC’s Office of the
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that they wish to participate in the
proceeding, so that the filer need not
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participants separately. Therefore,
applicants and other participants (or
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Desk through the ‘‘Contact Us’’ link
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all other participants. Filing is
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extension expires if a hearing request
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Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 10th day
of August, 2012.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Roy P. Zimmerman,
Director, Office of Enforcement.
[FR Doc. 2012–20230 Filed 8–16–12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590–01–P
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POSTAL SERVICE
Transfer of Outbound Single-Piece
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AGENCY:
The Postal Service hereby
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MC2012–44.
SUMMARY:
Stanley F. Mires,
Attorney, Legal Policy & Legislative Advice.
[FR Doc. 2012–20181 Filed 8–16–12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7710–12–P
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
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[Release No. 34–67648; File No. SR–OPRA–
2012–04]
Options Price Reporting Authority;
Notice of Filing and Immediate
Effectiveness of Proposed Amendment
to the Plan for Reporting of
Consolidated Options Last Sale
Reports and Quotation Information To
Implement a New Fee for ‘‘Non-Display
Applications’’
August 14, 2012.
Pursuant to Section 11A of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934
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(‘‘Act’’) 1 and Rule 608 thereunder,2
notice is hereby given that on August 1,
2012, the Options Price Reporting
Authority (‘‘OPRA’’) submitted to the
Securities and Exchange Commission
(‘‘Commission’’) an amendment to the
Plan for Reporting of Consolidated
Options Last Sale Reports and
Quotation Information (‘‘OPRA Plan’’).3
The proposed amendment would
implement a new fee for ‘‘Non-Display
Applications.’’ The Commission is
publishing this notice to solicit
comments from interested persons on
the proposed OPRA Plan amendment.
I. Description and Purpose of the Plan
Amendment
The purpose of the proposed
amendment is to implement a new fee
for ‘‘Non-Display Applications.’’ OPRA
proposes to define the term ‘‘NonDisplay Application’’ in a new footnote
to its Fee Schedule. The definition
would state that a ‘‘Non-Display
Application’’ is an application used by
a Professional Subscriber that: (i) Is
capable of accessing OPRA market data,
(ii) does not display the data in a form
for direct use by a human being and (iii)
is used for purposes of generating orders
and/or quotations on an automated basis
for purposes other than complying with
the Rules of one or more of the OPRA
Participant Exchanges. The definition
would state that the term includes any
application that is used for ‘‘black box’’
trading, automated trading, algorithmic
trading and/or program trading. The
definition would also state that the term
does not include any application that is
used only to generate two-sided
continuous quotations, in fulfillment of
the obligation to act in a market-making
capacity pursuant to the Rules of one or
more of the OPRA Participant
Exchanges, of a Professional Subscriber
that has been designated by such
Exchange or Exchanges to act as a
dealer/specialist for all purposes under
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and
1 15
U.S.C. 78k–1.
CFR 242.608.
3 The OPRA Plan is a national market system plan
approved by the Commission pursuant to Section
11A of the Act and Rule 608 thereunder (formerly
Rule 11A3–2). See Securities Exchange Act Release
No. 17638 (March 18, 1981), 22 S.E.C. Docket 484
(March 31, 1981). The full text of the OPRA Plan
is available at https://www.opradata.com.
The OPRA Plan provides for the collection and
dissemination of last sale and quotation information
on options that are traded on the participant
exchanges. The ten participants to the OPRA Plan
are BATS Exchange, Inc., BOX Options Exchange,
LLC, Chicago Board Options Exchange,
Incorporated, C2 Options Exchange, Incorporated,
International Securities Exchange, LLC, NASDAQ
OMX BX, Inc., NASDAQ OMX PHLX LLC,
NASDAQ Stock Market LLC, NYSE Amex, LLC n/
k/a NYSE MKT LLC, and NYSE Arca, Inc.
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the Rules and Regulations thereunder,4
and that the term also does not include
an application that is used solely to
perform surveillance, risk management
or portfolio management functions in
support of a firm’s trading operations.5
The new fee would be payable by
Professional Subscribers 6 that receive
access to OPRA Data via data feed
transmission, either from an OPRA
Vendor or from OPRA’s processor, for
use in a Non-Display Application.7 The
fee would be payable on a ‘‘per
installation’’ basis—that is, one fee
would be payable for each Non-Display
Application (sometimes referred to in
this filing as a ‘‘trading engine’’) that
receives a data feed transmission. The
term ‘‘installation’’ would be defined in
a footnote to OPRA’s Fee Schedule as
follows: ‘‘An ‘installation’ is a system of
one or more servers operating as a unit
to generate orders and/or quotations.
Multiple servers may operate together to
constitute an ‘installation.’ Conversely,
two or more ‘installations’ may reside
on a single server or network if each
generates a separate stream of orders
and/or quotations.’’ OPRA proposes that
the new Non-Display Application Fee
be $500/installation/month, with an
‘‘Enterprise Fee’’ alternative of $7500/
month that would permit a Professional
Subscriber to receive access to OPRA
Data for use in an unlimited number of
Non-Display Application installations.
4 Market-makers use ‘‘autoquote’’ applications to
fulfill their obligation under Exchange rules to
generate two-sided continuous quotations. These
applications would be within the definition of the
term ‘‘Non-Display Application’’ if this language
were not included in the definition. OPRA believes
that it would not be fair to market-makers to impose
a new fee on them for performing an obligation that
has existed for many years and that exists to
provide liquidity to the markets of the Exchanges.
5 OPRA believes that it would not be fair to
impose a new fee on the use of applications that
perform these support and monitoring functions.
6 OPRA defines a ‘‘Subscriber,’’ in general, as an
entity or person that receives OPRA Data but does
not redistribute it to third parties, and a
‘‘Professional Subscriber’’ as any Subscriber that
does not qualify as a ‘‘Nonprofessional Subscriber.’’
In essence, a Nonprofessional Subscriber is an
individual person that uses OPRA Data for
personal, non-business use.
7 To receive OPRA Data via a data feed
transmission, a Subscriber must enter into a
Professional Subscriber Agreement directly with
OPRA and either a ‘‘Direct Circuit Connection Rider
to Professional Subscriber Agreement’’ (if the
Professional Subscriber receives the data feed
transmission directly from OPRA’s processor) or a
‘‘Indirect (Vendor Pass-Through) Circuit
Connection Rider to Professional Subscriber
Agreement’’ (if the Professional Subscriber receives
the data feed transmission from an OPRA Vendor).
OPRA’s forms of Professional Subscriber
Agreement, Direct Circuit Connection Rider to
Professional Subscriber Agreement and Indirect
(Vendor Pass-Through) Circuit Connection Rider to
Professional Subscriber Agreement are all posted on
OPRA’s Web site, www.opradata.com.
PO 00000
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Under OPRA’s Fee Schedule as
currently in effect, the OPRA fees that
apply to a Non-Display Application
would depend on the number of servers
in the trading engine that receive OPRA
Data, whether the trading engine
receives OPRA Data directly from
OPRA’s processor (i.e., via a ‘‘direct
connect’’) or from an OPRA Vendor (i.e.,
via, an ‘‘indirect connect’’) and whether
the Professional Subscriber is already
paying the OPRA Indirect Access Fee. A
typical trading engine may include
multiple servers, several of which are
enabled to receive access to OPRA Data.
For example, if a trading engine is
comprised of four servers and the
Professional Subscriber is already
paying the OPRA Indirect Access Fee,
the OPRA fees that currently would
apply would be $100/month (the
device-based fee for four servers); if the
trading engine is comprised of four
servers and the Professional Subscriber
is not already paying the OPRA Indirect
Access Fee, the OPRA fees that
currently would apply would be $700/
month (the device-based fee for four
servers plus an Indirect Access Fee for
the datafeed of $600).
Because the Non-Display Application
Fee would be on a ‘‘per installation’’
basis, a Professional Subscriber that has
multiple trading engines would pay a
fee for each of them (up to fifteen, when
the Enterprise Fee would be available).
The Non-Display Application Fee for a
trading engine would include the
device-based fees with respect to the
servers and other devices that comprise
the trading engine, up to the amount of
the Non-Display Application Fee. For
example, for the trading engine
described above comprised of four
servers, in 2012 the total fees would be
$500/month, not $600/month (the sum
of $500 plus four times $25.00). For a
trading engine comprised of 22 servers,
the Professional Subscriber would be
required to pay device-based fees in
excess of the Non-Display Application
Fee, and in 2012 the total fees for the
trading engine would be $550/month. If
a Professional Subscriber has three NonDisplay Applications residing on a
single server, each of them would be
subject to the Non-Display Application
Fee, and in 2012 the total Non-Display
Application Fees for the three trading
engines would be $1500/month. If a
Professional Subscriber were receiving a
data feed from an OPRA Vendor solely
for use in one or more trading engines,
the Professional Subscriber would not
be obligated to pay the Indirect Access
Fee in addition to the new fee.
It would also be possible that a
Professional Subscriber would connect a
Non-Display Application to a ‘‘direct’’
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Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 160 / Friday, August 17, 2012 / Notices
data feed from OPRA’s processor rather
than an ‘‘indirect’’ data feed from an
OPRA Vendor. In this case, the
Professional Subscriber would be
required to pay the Direct Access Fee as
well as the Non-Display Application
Fee, even if the direct data feed to the
trading engine is the only data feed
received by the Professional
Subscriber.8
As noted above, any Professional
Subscriber that wants to receive an
indirect data feed of OPRA Data must
sign an Indirect Access Rider to its
Professional Subscriber Agreement, and
any Professional Subscriber that wants
to receive a direct data feed of OPRA
data must sign an Direct Access Rider to
its Professional Subscriber Agreement.
In either case, the Professional
Subscriber must provide OPRA with an
‘‘Exhibit A’’ to the Rider, in which it
describes its intended use of the OPRA
data, and both Riders require
Professional Subscribers to report their
use of OPRA data on a monthly basis.
These requirements would apply to a
Professional Subscriber that wants to
have a Non-Display Application receive
OPRA data. OPRA’s current form of
Exhibit A should provide OPRA staff
with the information that it needs to
generate invoices for the Non-Display
Application Fee.
OPRA believes that the use of NonDisplay Applications by active trading
firms is becoming increasingly common,
and that this use has resulted, and will
continue to result, in a significant
reduction in the number of devices and
user IDs that are reported to it.9 OPRA
believes that its Fee Schedule as revised
to include the new Non-Display
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8 OPRA
believes that it is fair and appropriate to
charge a Direct Access Fee for a ‘‘direct’’ data feed
connection to a Non-Display Application, but not
to charge an Indirect Access Fee for an ‘‘indirect’’
data feed connection to a Non-Display Application,
because of the differences in the Indirect Access Fee
and the Direct Access Fee: The Indirect Access Fee
is $600/month per Professional Subscriber,
regardless of the number of indirect data feed
connections that a particular Subscriber has,
whereas the Direct Access Fee is $1,000/month for
the first circuit connection, with no charge for one
back-up circuit connection and a charge of $100 per
connection for any additional connections. These
differences, in turn, reflect that OPRA does not
directly provide additional service when a
Professional Subscriber adds additional indirect
connections (because an OPRA Vendor is providing
the additional connections), but that OPRA does
provide additional service when a Professional
Subscriber adds additional direct connections.
9 In 2004, an average of 223,000 devices and User
IDs were reported to OPRA in each month of the
year. In 2011, an average of 164,000 devices and
User IDs were reported to OPRA in each month of
the year, a reduction over that eight year period of
approximately 26%. OPRA does not have a basis for
estimating the portion of that reduction that might
be due to the use of Non-Display Applications, but
does believe that the use of Non-Display
Applications contributed to the reduction.
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Application Fee will more fairly allocate
to Non-Display Applications a share of
the overall costs of OPRA and its
member exchanges to which OPRA’s
fees may properly be applied.
The text of the proposed amendment
to the OPRA Plan is available at OPRA,
the Commission’s Public Reference
Room, https://opradata.com, and on the
Commission’s Web site at www.sec.gov.
II. Implementation of the OPRA Plan
Amendment
OPRA designated this amendment as
qualified to be put into effect upon
filing with the Commission in
accordance with clause (i) of paragraph
(b)(3) of Rule 608 under the Act.10
OPRA intends to implement the
amendment on October 1, 2012.
The Commission may summarily
abrogate the amendment within sixty
days of its filing and require refiling and
approval of the amendment by
Commission order pursuant to Rule
608(b)(2) under the Act 11 if it appears
to the Commission that such action is
necessary or appropriate in the public
interest, for the protection of investors,
or the maintenance of fair and orderly
markets, to remove impediments to, and
perfect the mechanisms of, a national
market system, or otherwise in
furtherance of the purposes of the Act.
III. Solicitation of Comments
Interested persons are invited to
submit written data, views, and
arguments concerning the foregoing,
including whether the proposed OPRA
Plan amendment is consistent with the
Act. Comments may be submitted by
any of the following methods:
Electronic Comments
• Use the Commission’s Internet
comment form (https://www.sec.gov/
rules/sro.shtml); or
• Send an email to rulecomments@sec.gov. Please include File
No. SR–OPRA–2012–04 on the subject
line.
Paper Comments
• Send paper comments in triplicate
to Elizabeth M. Murphy, Secretary,
Securities and Exchange Commission,
100 F Street NE., Washington, DC
20549–1090.
All submissions should refer to File
Number SR–OPRA–2012–04. This file
number should be included on the
subject line if email is used. To help the
Commission process and review your
comments more efficiently, please use
only one method. The Commission will
10 17
11 17
PO 00000
CFR 242.608(b)(3)(i).
CFR 242.608(b)(2).
Frm 00066
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49839
post all comments on the Commission’s
Internet Web site (https://www.sec.gov/
rules/sro.shtml). Copies of the
submission, all subsequent
amendments, all written statements
with respect to the proposed plan
amendment that are filed with the
Commission, and all written
communications relating to the
proposed plan amendment between the
Commission and any person, other than
those that may be withheld from the
public in accordance with the
provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552, will be
available for Web site viewing and
printing in the Commission’s Public
Reference Room, 100 F Street NE.,
Washington, DC 20549, on official
business days between the hours of 1
a.m. and 3 p.m. Copies of such filing
also will be available for inspection and
copying at the principal office of OPRA.
All comments received will be posted
without change; the Commission does
not edit personal identifying
information from submissions. You
should submit only information that
you wish to make available publicly. All
submissions should refer to File
Number SR–OPRA–2012–04 and should
be submitted on or before September 7,
2012.
For the Commission, by the Division of
Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated
authority.12
Jill M. Peterson,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2012–20263 Filed 8–16–12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011–01–P
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
[Investment Company Act Release No.
30166; 812–13956]
IndexIQ Advisors LLC and IndexIQ
Active ETF Trust; Notice of Application
August 13, 2012.
Securities and Exchange
Commission (‘‘Commission’’).
AGENCY:
Notice of an application for an
order under section 6(c) of the
Investment Company Act of 1940
(‘‘Act’’) for an exemption from sections
2(a)(32), 5(a)(1), 22(d) and 22(e) of the
Act and rule 22c-1 under the Act, under
sections 6(c) and 17(b) of the Act for an
exemption from sections 17(a)(1) and
(a)(2) of the Act, and under section
12(d)(1)(J) for an exemption from
sections 12(d)(1)(A) and (B) of the Act.
ACTION:
12 17
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CFR 200.30–3(a)(29).
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 160 (Friday, August 17, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49837-49839]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-20263]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
[Release No. 34-67648; File No. SR-OPRA-2012-04]
Options Price Reporting Authority; Notice of Filing and Immediate
Effectiveness of Proposed Amendment to the Plan for Reporting of
Consolidated Options Last Sale Reports and Quotation Information To
Implement a New Fee for ``Non-Display Applications''
August 14, 2012.
Pursuant to Section 11A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
[[Page 49838]]
(``Act'') \1\ and Rule 608 thereunder,\2\ notice is hereby given that
on August 1, 2012, the Options Price Reporting Authority (``OPRA'')
submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (``Commission'') an
amendment to the Plan for Reporting of Consolidated Options Last Sale
Reports and Quotation Information (``OPRA Plan'').\3\ The proposed
amendment would implement a new fee for ``Non-Display Applications.''
The Commission is publishing this notice to solicit comments from
interested persons on the proposed OPRA Plan amendment.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ 15 U.S.C. 78k-1.
\2\ 17 CFR 242.608.
\3\ The OPRA Plan is a national market system plan approved by
the Commission pursuant to Section 11A of the Act and Rule 608
thereunder (formerly Rule 11A3-2). See Securities Exchange Act
Release No. 17638 (March 18, 1981), 22 S.E.C. Docket 484 (March 31,
1981). The full text of the OPRA Plan is available at https://www.opradata.com.
The OPRA Plan provides for the collection and dissemination of
last sale and quotation information on options that are traded on
the participant exchanges. The ten participants to the OPRA Plan are
BATS Exchange, Inc., BOX Options Exchange, LLC, Chicago Board
Options Exchange, Incorporated, C2 Options Exchange, Incorporated,
International Securities Exchange, LLC, NASDAQ OMX BX, Inc., NASDAQ
OMX PHLX LLC, NASDAQ Stock Market LLC, NYSE Amex, LLC n/k/a NYSE MKT
LLC, and NYSE Arca, Inc.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I. Description and Purpose of the Plan Amendment
The purpose of the proposed amendment is to implement a new fee for
``Non-Display Applications.'' OPRA proposes to define the term ``Non-
Display Application'' in a new footnote to its Fee Schedule. The
definition would state that a ``Non-Display Application'' is an
application used by a Professional Subscriber that: (i) Is capable of
accessing OPRA market data, (ii) does not display the data in a form
for direct use by a human being and (iii) is used for purposes of
generating orders and/or quotations on an automated basis for purposes
other than complying with the Rules of one or more of the OPRA
Participant Exchanges. The definition would state that the term
includes any application that is used for ``black box'' trading,
automated trading, algorithmic trading and/or program trading. The
definition would also state that the term does not include any
application that is used only to generate two-sided continuous
quotations, in fulfillment of the obligation to act in a market-making
capacity pursuant to the Rules of one or more of the OPRA Participant
Exchanges, of a Professional Subscriber that has been designated by
such Exchange or Exchanges to act as a dealer/specialist for all
purposes under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Rules and
Regulations thereunder,\4\ and that the term also does not include an
application that is used solely to perform surveillance, risk
management or portfolio management functions in support of a firm's
trading operations.\5\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ Market-makers use ``autoquote'' applications to fulfill
their obligation under Exchange rules to generate two-sided
continuous quotations. These applications would be within the
definition of the term ``Non-Display Application'' if this language
were not included in the definition. OPRA believes that it would not
be fair to market-makers to impose a new fee on them for performing
an obligation that has existed for many years and that exists to
provide liquidity to the markets of the Exchanges.
\5\ OPRA believes that it would not be fair to impose a new fee
on the use of applications that perform these support and monitoring
functions.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The new fee would be payable by Professional Subscribers \6\ that
receive access to OPRA Data via data feed transmission, either from an
OPRA Vendor or from OPRA's processor, for use in a Non-Display
Application.\7\ The fee would be payable on a ``per installation''
basis--that is, one fee would be payable for each Non-Display
Application (sometimes referred to in this filing as a ``trading
engine'') that receives a data feed transmission. The term
``installation'' would be defined in a footnote to OPRA's Fee Schedule
as follows: ``An `installation' is a system of one or more servers
operating as a unit to generate orders and/or quotations. Multiple
servers may operate together to constitute an `installation.'
Conversely, two or more `installations' may reside on a single server
or network if each generates a separate stream of orders and/or
quotations.'' OPRA proposes that the new Non-Display Application Fee be
$500/installation/month, with an ``Enterprise Fee'' alternative of
$7500/month that would permit a Professional Subscriber to receive
access to OPRA Data for use in an unlimited number of Non-Display
Application installations.
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\6\ OPRA defines a ``Subscriber,'' in general, as an entity or
person that receives OPRA Data but does not redistribute it to third
parties, and a ``Professional Subscriber'' as any Subscriber that
does not qualify as a ``Nonprofessional Subscriber.'' In essence, a
Nonprofessional Subscriber is an individual person that uses OPRA
Data for personal, non-business use.
\7\ To receive OPRA Data via a data feed transmission, a
Subscriber must enter into a Professional Subscriber Agreement
directly with OPRA and either a ``Direct Circuit Connection Rider to
Professional Subscriber Agreement'' (if the Professional Subscriber
receives the data feed transmission directly from OPRA's processor)
or a ``Indirect (Vendor Pass-Through) Circuit Connection Rider to
Professional Subscriber Agreement'' (if the Professional Subscriber
receives the data feed transmission from an OPRA Vendor). OPRA's
forms of Professional Subscriber Agreement, Direct Circuit
Connection Rider to Professional Subscriber Agreement and Indirect
(Vendor Pass-Through) Circuit Connection Rider to Professional
Subscriber Agreement are all posted on OPRA's Web site,
www.opradata.com.
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Under OPRA's Fee Schedule as currently in effect, the OPRA fees
that apply to a Non-Display Application would depend on the number of
servers in the trading engine that receive OPRA Data, whether the
trading engine receives OPRA Data directly from OPRA's processor (i.e.,
via a ``direct connect'') or from an OPRA Vendor (i.e., via, an
``indirect connect'') and whether the Professional Subscriber is
already paying the OPRA Indirect Access Fee. A typical trading engine
may include multiple servers, several of which are enabled to receive
access to OPRA Data. For example, if a trading engine is comprised of
four servers and the Professional Subscriber is already paying the OPRA
Indirect Access Fee, the OPRA fees that currently would apply would be
$100/month (the device-based fee for four servers); if the trading
engine is comprised of four servers and the Professional Subscriber is
not already paying the OPRA Indirect Access Fee, the OPRA fees that
currently would apply would be $700/month (the device-based fee for
four servers plus an Indirect Access Fee for the datafeed of $600).
Because the Non-Display Application Fee would be on a ``per
installation'' basis, a Professional Subscriber that has multiple
trading engines would pay a fee for each of them (up to fifteen, when
the Enterprise Fee would be available). The Non-Display Application Fee
for a trading engine would include the device-based fees with respect
to the servers and other devices that comprise the trading engine, up
to the amount of the Non-Display Application Fee. For example, for the
trading engine described above comprised of four servers, in 2012 the
total fees would be $500/month, not $600/month (the sum of $500 plus
four times $25.00). For a trading engine comprised of 22 servers, the
Professional Subscriber would be required to pay device-based fees in
excess of the Non-Display Application Fee, and in 2012 the total fees
for the trading engine would be $550/month. If a Professional
Subscriber has three Non-Display Applications residing on a single
server, each of them would be subject to the Non-Display Application
Fee, and in 2012 the total Non-Display Application Fees for the three
trading engines would be $1500/month. If a Professional Subscriber were
receiving a data feed from an OPRA Vendor solely for use in one or more
trading engines, the Professional Subscriber would not be obligated to
pay the Indirect Access Fee in addition to the new fee.
It would also be possible that a Professional Subscriber would
connect a Non-Display Application to a ``direct''
[[Page 49839]]
data feed from OPRA's processor rather than an ``indirect'' data feed
from an OPRA Vendor. In this case, the Professional Subscriber would be
required to pay the Direct Access Fee as well as the Non-Display
Application Fee, even if the direct data feed to the trading engine is
the only data feed received by the Professional Subscriber.\8\
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\8\ OPRA believes that it is fair and appropriate to charge a
Direct Access Fee for a ``direct'' data feed connection to a Non-
Display Application, but not to charge an Indirect Access Fee for an
``indirect'' data feed connection to a Non-Display Application,
because of the differences in the Indirect Access Fee and the Direct
Access Fee: The Indirect Access Fee is $600/month per Professional
Subscriber, regardless of the number of indirect data feed
connections that a particular Subscriber has, whereas the Direct
Access Fee is $1,000/month for the first circuit connection, with no
charge for one back-up circuit connection and a charge of $100 per
connection for any additional connections. These differences, in
turn, reflect that OPRA does not directly provide additional service
when a Professional Subscriber adds additional indirect connections
(because an OPRA Vendor is providing the additional connections),
but that OPRA does provide additional service when a Professional
Subscriber adds additional direct connections.
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As noted above, any Professional Subscriber that wants to receive
an indirect data feed of OPRA Data must sign an Indirect Access Rider
to its Professional Subscriber Agreement, and any Professional
Subscriber that wants to receive a direct data feed of OPRA data must
sign an Direct Access Rider to its Professional Subscriber Agreement.
In either case, the Professional Subscriber must provide OPRA with an
``Exhibit A'' to the Rider, in which it describes its intended use of
the OPRA data, and both Riders require Professional Subscribers to
report their use of OPRA data on a monthly basis. These requirements
would apply to a Professional Subscriber that wants to have a Non-
Display Application receive OPRA data. OPRA's current form of Exhibit A
should provide OPRA staff with the information that it needs to
generate invoices for the Non-Display Application Fee.
OPRA believes that the use of Non-Display Applications by active
trading firms is becoming increasingly common, and that this use has
resulted, and will continue to result, in a significant reduction in
the number of devices and user IDs that are reported to it.\9\ OPRA
believes that its Fee Schedule as revised to include the new Non-
Display Application Fee will more fairly allocate to Non-Display
Applications a share of the overall costs of OPRA and its member
exchanges to which OPRA's fees may properly be applied.
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\9\ In 2004, an average of 223,000 devices and User IDs were
reported to OPRA in each month of the year. In 2011, an average of
164,000 devices and User IDs were reported to OPRA in each month of
the year, a reduction over that eight year period of approximately
26%. OPRA does not have a basis for estimating the portion of that
reduction that might be due to the use of Non-Display Applications,
but does believe that the use of Non-Display Applications
contributed to the reduction.
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The text of the proposed amendment to the OPRA Plan is available at
OPRA, the Commission's Public Reference Room, https://opradata.com, and
on the Commission's Web site at www.sec.gov.
II. Implementation of the OPRA Plan Amendment
OPRA designated this amendment as qualified to be put into effect
upon filing with the Commission in accordance with clause (i) of
paragraph (b)(3) of Rule 608 under the Act.\10\ OPRA intends to
implement the amendment on October 1, 2012.
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\10\ 17 CFR 242.608(b)(3)(i).
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The Commission may summarily abrogate the amendment within sixty
days of its filing and require refiling and approval of the amendment
by Commission order pursuant to Rule 608(b)(2) under the Act \11\ if it
appears to the Commission that such action is necessary or appropriate
in the public interest, for the protection of investors, or the
maintenance of fair and orderly markets, to remove impediments to, and
perfect the mechanisms of, a national market system, or otherwise in
furtherance of the purposes of the Act.
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\11\ 17 CFR 242.608(b)(2).
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III. Solicitation of Comments
Interested persons are invited to submit written data, views, and
arguments concerning the foregoing, including whether the proposed OPRA
Plan amendment is consistent with the Act. Comments may be submitted by
any of the following methods:
Electronic Comments
Use the Commission's Internet comment form (https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml); or
Send an email to rule-comments@sec.gov. Please include
File No. SR-OPRA-2012-04 on the subject line.
Paper Comments
Send paper comments in triplicate to Elizabeth M. Murphy,
Secretary, Securities and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street NE.,
Washington, DC 20549-1090.
All submissions should refer to File Number SR-OPRA-2012-04. This file
number should be included on the subject line if email is used. To help
the Commission process and review your comments more efficiently,
please use only one method. The Commission will post all comments on
the Commission's Internet Web site (https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml). Copies of the submission, all subsequent amendments, all
written statements with respect to the proposed plan amendment that are
filed with the Commission, and all written communications relating to
the proposed plan amendment between the Commission and any person,
other than those that may be withheld from the public in accordance
with the provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552, will be available for Web site
viewing and printing in the Commission's Public Reference Room, 100 F
Street NE., Washington, DC 20549, on official business days between the
hours of 1 a.m. and 3 p.m. Copies of such filing also will be available
for inspection and copying at the principal office of OPRA. All
comments received will be posted without change; the Commission does
not edit personal identifying information from submissions. You should
submit only information that you wish to make available publicly. All
submissions should refer to File Number SR-OPRA-2012-04 and should be
submitted on or before September 7, 2012.
For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets,
pursuant to delegated authority.\12\
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\12\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(29).
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Jill M. Peterson,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2012-20263 Filed 8-16-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P
