Self-Regulatory Organizations; Cboe EDGX Exchange, Inc.; Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change Relating To Amend the Fee Schedule, 9406-9410 [2021-02857]
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9406
Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 28 / Friday, February 12, 2021 / Notices
participate in the testing and review of
its default procedures, including any
close-out procedure, at least annually
and following material changes thereto.
By amending the Default Management
Procedures to document and formalize
the procedures for convening the CDS
Default Committee remotely by
teleconference, the proposed rule
change would promote ICC’s ability to
efficiently and safely manage its closeout process when the CDS Default
Committee cannot meet in person,
which would help to ensure that ICC
has the authority and operational
capacity to take timely action to contain
losses and liquidity demands and
continue to meet its obligations in the
event of default. In addition, the
Commission believes the proposed
updates and clarification changes to the
default notification procedures would
ensure that ICC’s relevant stakeholders
stay informed throughout the default
management process and enable them to
provide responsive feedback that may
also help ICC to take timely action to
contain losses and liquidity demands
while meeting its obligations. For these
reasons, the Commission finds that the
proposed rule change is consistent with
Rule 17Ad–22(e)(13).14
IV. Conclusion
On the basis of the foregoing, the
Commission finds that the proposed
rule change is consistent with the
requirements of the Act, and in
particular, with the requirements of
Section 17A(b)(3)(F) of the Act 15 and
Rules 17Ad–22(e)(2)(i), (e)(2)(v), and
(e)(13) thereunder.16
It is therefore ordered pursuant to
Section 19(b)(2) of the Act 17 that the
proposed rule change (SR–ICC–2020–
014) be, and hereby is, approved.18
For the Commission, by the Division of
Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated
authority.19
J. Matthew DeLesDernier,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2021–02868 Filed 2–11–21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011–01–P
14 17
CFR 240.17Ad–22(e)(13).
U.S.C. 78q–1(b)(3)(F).
16 17 CFR 240.17Ad–22(e)(2)(i), (e)(2)(v), and
(e)(13).
17 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(2).
18 In approving the proposed rule change, the
Commission considered the proposal’s impact on
efficiency, competition, and capital formation. 15
U.S.C. 78c(f).
19 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12).
15 15
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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
[SEC File No. 270–104, OMB Control No.
3235–0119]
Proposed Collection; Comment
Request
Upon Written Request Copies Available
From: Securities and Exchange
Commission, Office of FOIA Services,
100 F Street NE, Washington, DC
20549–2736.
Extension:
Rule 12g3–2
Notice is hereby given that, pursuant
to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the Securities
and Exchange Commission
(‘‘Commission’’) is soliciting comments
on the collection of information
summarized below. The Commission
plans to submit this existing collection
of information to the Office of
Management and Budget for extension
and approval.
Rule 12g3–2 (17 CFR 240.12g3–2)
under the Securities Exchange Act of
1934 (the ‘‘Exchange Act’’) provides an
exemption from Section 12(g) of the
Exchange Act (15 U.S.C. 78l(g)) for
foreign private issuers. Rule 12g3–2 is
designed to provide investors in foreign
securities with information about such
securities and the foreign issuer. The
information filed under Rule 12g3–2
must be filed with the Commission and
is publicly available. We estimate that it
takes 8.95 hours per response to prepare
and is filed by approximately 1,386
respondents. Each respondent files an
estimated 12 times submissions
pursuant to Rule 12g3–2 per year for a
total of 16,632 respondents. We estimate
that 25% of 8.95 hours per response
(2.237 hours per response) to provide
the information required under Rule
12g3–2 for a total annual reporting
burden of 37,206 hours (2.237 hours per
response × 16,632 responses).
Written comments are invited on: (a)
Whether this proposed collection of
information is necessary for the proper
performance of the functions of the
agency, including whether the
information will have practical utility;
(b) the accuracy of the agency’s estimate
of the burden imposed by the collection
of information; (c) ways to enhance the
quality, utility, and clarity of the
information collected; and (d) ways to
minimize the burden of the collection of
information on respondents, including
through the use of automated collection
techniques or other forms of information
technology. Consideration will be given
to comments and suggestions submitted
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in writing within 60 days of this
publication.
An agency may not conduct or
sponsor, and a person is not required to
respond to, a collection of information
unless it displays a currently valid
control number.
Please direct your written comment to
David Bottom, Director/Chief
Information Officer, Securities and
Exchange Commission, c/o Cynthia
Roscoe, 100 F Street NE, Washington,
DC 20549 or send an email to: PRA_
Mailbox@sec.gov.
Dated: February 8, 2021.
J. Matthew DeLesDernier,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2021–02865 Filed 2–11–21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011–01–P
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
[Release No. 34–91078; File No. SR–
CboeEDGX–2021–009]
Self-Regulatory Organizations; Cboe
EDGX Exchange, Inc.; Notice of Filing
and Immediate Effectiveness of a
Proposed Rule Change Relating To
Amend the Fee Schedule
February 8, 2021.
Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the
‘‘Act’’),1 and Rule 19b–4 thereunder,2
notice is hereby given that on February
1, 2021, Cboe EDGX Exchange, Inc. (the
‘‘Exchange’’ or ‘‘EDGX’’) filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission
(the ‘‘Commission’’) the proposed rule
change as described in Items I, II, and
III below, which Items have been
prepared by the Exchange. The
Commission is publishing this notice to
solicit comments on the proposed rule
change from interested persons.
I. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
Statement of the Terms of Substance of
the Proposed Rule Change
Cboe EDGX Exchange, Inc. (the
‘‘Exchange’’ or ‘‘EDGX’’) is filing with
the Securities and Exchange
Commission (‘‘Commission’’) a
proposed rule change to amend the fee
schedule. The text of the proposed rule
change is provided in Exhibit 5.
The text of the proposed rule change
is also available on the Exchange’s
website (https://markets.cboe.com/us/
options/regulation/rule_filings/edgx/),
at the Exchange’s Office of the
Secretary, and at the Commission’s
Public Reference Room.
1 15
2 17
E:\FR\FM\12FEN1.SGM
U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).
CFR 240.19b–4.
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II. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
Statement of the Purpose of, and
Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule
Change
In its filing with the Commission, the
Exchange included statements
concerning the purpose of and basis for
the proposed rule change and discussed
any comments it received on the
proposed rule change. The text of these
statements may be examined at the
places specified in Item IV below. The
Exchange has prepared summaries, set
forth in sections A, B, and C below, of
the most significant aspects of such
statements.
A. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
Statement of the Purpose of, and
Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule
Change
1. Purpose
The Exchange proposes to amend its
fee schedule applicable to its equities
trading platform (‘‘EDGX Equities’’) by
amending its Add/Remove Volume
Tiers, effective February 1, 2021.
The Exchange first notes that it
operates in a highly competitive market
in which market participants can
readily direct order flow to competing
venues if they deem fee levels at a
particular venue to be excessive or
incentives to be insufficient. More
specifically, the Exchange is only one of
16 registered equities exchanges, as well
as a number of alternative trading
systems and other off-exchange venues
that do not have similar self-regulatory
responsibilities under the Exchange Act,
to which market participants may direct
their order flow. Based on publicly
available information,3 no single
registered equities exchange has more
than 16% of the market share. Thus, in
such a low-concentrated and highly
competitive market, no single equities
exchange possesses significant pricing
power in the execution of order flow.
The Exchange in particular operates a
‘‘Maker-Taker’’ model whereby it pays
credits to members that provide
liquidity and assesses fees to those that
remove liquidity. The Exchange’s fee
schedule sets forth the standard rebates
and rates applied per share for orders
that provide and remove liquidity,
respectively. Currently, for orders
priced at or above $1.00, the Exchange
provides a standard rebate of $0.0016
per share for orders that add liquidity
and assesses a fee of $0.0027 per share
for orders that remove liquidity. For
orders priced below $1.00, the Exchange
3 See Cboe Global Markets, U.S. Equities Market
Volume Summary, Month-to-Date (January 25,
2021), available at https://markets.cboe.com/us/
equities/market_statistics/.
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[sic] a standard rebate of $0.00009 per
share for orders that add liquidity and
assesses a fee of 0.30% of Dollar Value
for orders that remove liquidity.
Additionally, in response to the
competitive environment, the Exchange
also offers tiered pricing which provides
Members opportunities to qualify for
higher rebates or reduced fees where
certain volume criteria and thresholds
are met. Tiered pricing provides an
incremental incentive for Members to
strive for higher tier levels, which
provides increasingly higher benefits or
discounts for satisfying increasingly
more stringent criteria.
Currently, the Exchange provides for
certain Add/Remove Volume Tiers
under footnote 1 of the Fee Schedule.
More specifically, the Add/Remove
Volume Tiers provide for seven
different volume tiers that offer
enhanced rebates on Members’ orders
yielding fee codes ‘‘B’’ 4, ‘‘V’’ 5, ‘‘Y’’ 6,
‘‘3’’ 7 and ‘‘4’’ 8, where a Member
reaches certain volume-based criteria
offered in each tier. Two of these tiers
are ‘‘Growth Tiers’’, which are designed
to encourage growth in order flow by
providing specific criteria in which
Members must increase their relative
liquidity each month over a
predetermined baseline. Growth Tier 2,
for example, provides an enhanced
rebate of $0.0027 on qualifying orders
(i.e., B, V, Y, 3 and 4) where a Member
has a Retail Step-Up Add TCV 9 (i.e.,
yielding fee code ZA) 10 from May 2020
that is greater than or equal to 0.10%.
The Exchange now proposes to amend
Growth Tier 2 to provide an increased
enhanced rebated of $0.0030 on
qualifying orders where a Member: (1)
Has a Step-Up Add TCV from January
2021 greater than or equal to 0.10%; (2)
4 Appended to orders that add liquidity to EDGX
(Tape B) and offers a rebate of $0.0016 per share.
5 Appended to orders that add liquidity to EDGX
(Tape A) and offers a rebate of $0.0016 per share.
6 Appended to orders that add liquidity to EDGX
(Tape C) and offers a rebate of $0.0016 per share.
7 Appended to orders that add liquidity to EDGX
pre and post market (Tape A or C) and offers a
rebate of $0.0016 per share.
8 Appended to orders that add liquidity to EDGX
pre and post market (Tape B) and offers a rebate of
$0.0016 per share.
9 ‘‘Step-Up Add TCV’’ means ADAV as a
percentage of TCV in the relevant baseline month
subtracted from current ADAV as a percentage of
TCV. ‘‘TCV’’ means total consolidated volume
calculated as the volume reported by all exchanges
and trade reporting facilities to a consolidated
transaction reporting plan for the month for which
the fees apply. ‘‘ADAV’’ means ADAV means
average daily added volume calculated as the
number of shares added per day. ADAV is
calculated on a monthly basis.
10 Appended to Retail Orders that add liquidity to
EDGX and offers a rebate of $0.0032 per share.
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9407
adds an ADV 11 greater than or equal to
0.50% of the TCV; and (3) removes an
ADV of greater than or equal to 0.80%
of the TCV.
Additionally, under the Add/Remove
Volume Tiers in footnote 1 of the Fee
Schedule, the Exchange also provides
for three Non-Displayed Add Volume
Tiers, which offer enhanced rebates on
Members’ orders yielding fee codes
‘‘DM’’ 12, ‘‘HA’’ 13, ‘‘MM’’ 14 and ‘‘RP’’ 15
where a Member reaches certain
required volume-based criteria offered
in each tier. For example, NonDisplayed Add Volume Tier 3 provides
an enhanced rebated of $0.0025 on
qualifying orders (i.e., DM, HA, MM and
RP) where a Member has an ADAV 16 of
greater than or equal to 0.10% of TCV
for Non-Displayed orders that yield fee
codes DM, HA, HI, MM or RP. The
Exchange now proposes to add a new
Non-Displayed tier, specifically, a NonDisplayed Step-Up Tier, which provides
an enhanced rebate of $0.0025 where a
Member: (1) Has a Step-Up Add TCV
from January 2021 greater than or equal
to 0.10%; (2) adds an ADV greater than
or equal to 0.50% of the TCV; and (3)
removes an ADV of greater than or equal
to 0.80% of the TCV.
Growth Tier 2, as amended, and the
new Non-Displayed Step-Up Tier, both
of which offer the same three-pronged
criteria, are designed to incentivize
overall order flow, particularly by
offering enhanced rebates for both
displayed (i.e., B, V, Y, 3 and 4) and
non-displayed (DM, HA, MM and RP)
orders if a Member meets the different,
incrementally more difficult criteria as
amended in Growth Tier 2 or the
additional opportunity as provided in
the proposed Non-Displayed Step-Up
Tier. Specifically the proposed criteria
will encourage a Member to: (1) Grow in
overall order flow (by providing criteria
in which a Member must increase
relative overall order flow, not just retail
order flow, each month over baseline
liquidity in January 2021); (2) increase
11 ‘‘ADV’’ means average daily volume calculated
as the number of shares added to, removed from,
or routed by, the Exchange, or any combination or
subset thereof, per day. ADV is calculated on a
monthly basis.
12 Appended to orders that add liquidity using
MidPoint Discretionary order within discretionary
range and are provided a rebate of $0.00100.
13 Appended to non-displayed orders that add
liquidity and are provided a rebate of $0.00100.
14 Appended to non-displayed orders that add
liquidity using Mid-Point Peg and are provided a
rebate of $0.00100.
15 Appended to non-displayed orders that add
liquidity using Supplemental Peg and are provided
a rebate of $0.00100.
16 ‘‘ADAV’’ means ADAV means average daily
added volume calculated as the number of shares
added per day. ADAV is calculated on a monthly
basis.
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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 28 / Friday, February 12, 2021 / Notices
liquidity adding volume; and (3)
increase in liquidity removing volume,
in order to receive the proposed
enhanced rebates. Overall, the proposed
criteria and enhanced rebates provide
an additional opportunity for Members
to submit more order flow inclusive of
all orders, liquidity adding Members on
the Exchange to contribute to a deeper,
more liquid market, and liquidity
executing Members on the Exchange to
increase transactions and take execution
opportunities provided by such
increased liquidity, together providing
for overall enhanced price discovery
and price improvement opportunities
on the Exchange. As such, increased
overall order flow benefits all Members
by contributing towards a robust and
well-balanced market ecosystem.
2. Statutory Basis
The Exchange believes that the
proposed rule change is consistent with
the objectives of Section 6 of the Act,17
in general, and furthers the objectives of
Section 6(b)(4),18 in particular, as it is
designed to provide for the equitable
allocation of reasonable dues, fees and
other charges among its Members,
issuers and other persons using its
facilities. The Exchange also believes
that the proposed rule change is
consistent with the objectives of Section
6(b)(5) 19 requirements that the rules of
an exchange be designed to prevent
fraudulent and manipulative acts and
practices, to promote just and equitable
principles of trade, to foster cooperation
and coordination with persons engaged
in regulating, clearing, settling,
processing information with respect to,
and facilitating transactions in
securities, to remove impediments to
and perfect the mechanism of a free and
open market and a national market
system, and, in general, to protect
investors and the public interest, and,
particularly, is not designed to permit
unfair discrimination between
customers, issuers, brokers, or dealers.
As described above, the Exchange
operates in a highly competitive market
in which market participants can
readily direct order flow to competing
venues if they deem fee levels at a
particular venue to be excessive or
incentives to be insufficient. The
proposed rule change reflects a
competitive pricing structure designed
to incentivize market participants to
direct their order flow to the Exchange,
which the Exchange believes would
enhance market quality to the benefit of
all Members. In particular, the Exchange
17 15
U.S.C. 78f.
U.S.C. 78f(b)(4).
19 15 U.S.C. 78f.(b)(5).
18 15
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believes the proposed changes to
Growth Tier 2 and the proposed new
Non-Displayed Step-Up Tier are
reasonable because they either amend
an existing opportunity or provide an
additional opportunity for Members to
receive an enhanced rebate on
qualifying orders by means of overall
order flow, including both liquidity
adding and removing orders. The
Exchange notes that relative volumebased incentives and discounts have
been widely adopted by exchanges,20
including the Exchange,21 and are
reasonable, equitable and nondiscriminatory because they are open to
all members on an equal basis and
provide additional benefits or discounts
that are reasonably related to (i) the
value to an exchange’s market quality
and (ii) associated higher levels of
market activity, such as higher levels of
liquidity provision and/or growth
patterns. Additionally, as noted above,
the Exchange operates in a highly
competitive market. The Exchange is
only one of several equity venues to
which market participants may direct
their order flow, and it represents a
small percentage of the overall market.
It is also only one of several maker-taker
exchanges. Competing equity exchanges
offer similar tiered pricing structures to
that of the Exchange, including
schedules of rebates and fees that apply
based upon members achieving certain
volume and/or growth thresholds. These
competing pricing schedules, moreover,
are presently comparable to those that
the Exchange provides, including the
pricing of comparable tiers.22
Moreover, the Exchange believes the
two proposed tiers are a reasonable
means to encourage overall growth in
Members’ overall order flow to the
Exchange and to incentivize Members to
continue to provide liquidity adding
and liquidity removing to the Exchange
by offering them a different or
additional opportunity than those
opportunities currently under the Add/
Remove Volume Tiers to receive an
enhanced rebate on qualifying orders.
The Exchange believes that the
20 See e.g., Nasdaq PSX Price List [sic], Rebate to
Add Displayed Liquidity (Per Share Executed), and
Rebate to Add Other Non-Displayed Liquidity,
which provide rebates to members for adding
displayed and non-displayed liquidity over certain
thresholds of TCV ranging between $0.00075 and
$0.00305, available at https://nasdaqtrader.com/
Trader.aspx?id=PriceListTrading2; and Cboe BZX
U.S. Equities Exchange Fee Schedule, Footnote 1,
Add Volume Tiers, which provides similar
incentives for displayed and non-displayed
liquidity and offers rebates ranging between
$0.0018 and $0.0031.
21 See generally, Cboe EDGX U.S. Equities
Exchange Fee Schedule, Footnote 1, Add Volume
Tiers [sic].
22 See supra note 20.
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proposed tiers, each based on a
Member’s overall growth in all order
flow and their liquidity adding and
removing orders, will generally benefit
all market participants by incentivizing
continuous liquidity and thus, deeper
more liquid markets as well as increased
execution opportunities. Indeed, the
Exchange notes that greater add volume
order flow may provide for deeper, more
liquid markets and execution
opportunities, and greater remove
volume order flow may increase
transactions on the Exchange, which the
Exchange believes incentivizes liquidity
providers to submit additional liquidity
and execution opportunities, thus,
providing an overall increase in price
discovery and transparency on the
Exchange.
Further, the Exchange believes that
the proposed rule changes are
reasonable as they do not represent a
significant departure from the current
criteria or enhanced rebates currently
offered in the Fee Schedule. First, the
Exchange believes that modifying
existing criteria in Growth Tier 2 is
reasonably designed to be incrementally
more difficult to achieve than the
current criteria and therefore is
commensurate with the proposed
increased enhanced rebate. The
Exchange also believes that the
proposed criteria and enhanced rebate
remains in line with the incremental
increase in difficulty from Growth Tier
1. Growth Tier 1 may be met if a
Member: (1) Adds an ADV greater than
or equal to 0.20% of the TCV; and (2)
has a Step-Up Add TCV from March
2019 of greater than or equal to 0.10%.,
whereas proposed Growth Tier 2
provides for an additional prong of
criteria, as well as modestly increased
percentages of ADV over TCV, that a
Member must meet to receive an
enhanced rebate. Second, the Exchange
believes that the proposed criteria in the
new Non-Displayed Step-Up Tier is of
comparable difficulty to the criteria in
Non-Displayed Add Volume Tier 3,
which offers the same enhanced rebate
for the same qualifying orders if a
Member has an ADAV greater than or
equal to 0.10% of TCV for NonDisplayed orders that yield fee codes
DM, HA, HI, MM or RP. The Exchange
notes that the sum of Non-Displayed
orders only as an add-volume (ADAV)
percentage presents a more narrow, thus
comparable in difficulty, type of order
flow that a Member must submit to
achieve the criteria in Non-Displayed
Add Volume Tier 3, and therefore, the
proposed enhanced rebate offered under
the Non-Displayed Step-Up Tier is
commensurate with the same enhanced
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rebate offered under Non-Displayed
Add Volume Tier 3.
The Exchange believes that the
proposal represents an equitable
allocation of fees and rebates and is not
unfairly discriminatory because all
Members will continue to be eligible for
Growth Tier 2, as amended, and all
Members will be eligible for proposed
Non-Displayed Step-Up Tier. All
Members will have the opportunity to
meet the two tiers’ criteria and will
receive the proposed corresponding
enhanced rebates for their respective
qualifying orders if they meet such
criteria. Without having a view of
activity on other markets and offexchange venues, the Exchange has no
way of knowing whether this proposed
rule change would definitely result in
any Members qualifying for the
proposed tiers. While the Exchange has
no way of predicting with certainty how
the proposed tier will impact Member
activity, the Exchange anticipates that at
least three Members will be able to
compete for and reach the proposed
criteria in Growth Tier 2 and the NonDisplayed Step-Up Tier. The Exchange
anticipates that multiple Member types
will compete to reach the proposed
tiers, broker-dealers and liquidity
providers, each providing distinct types
of order flow to the Exchange to the
benefit of all market participants. The
Exchange also notes that proposed tiers
will not adversely impact any Member’s
pricing or ability to qualify for other
reduced fee or enhanced rebate tiers.
Should a Member not meet the
proposed criteria under either of the
proposed tiers, the Member will merely
not receive that corresponding
enhanced rebate. Furthermore, the
proposed enhanced rebates in Growth
Tier 2 and the Non-Displayed Step-Up
Tier will each automatically and
uniformly apply to all Members’
qualifying orders for all Members that
meet the required criteria under the
proposed tiers.
B. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
Statement on Burden on Competition
The Exchange does not believe that
the proposed rule changes will impose
any burden on competition not
necessary or appropriate in furtherance
of the purposes of the Act. Rather, as
discussed above, the Exchange believes
that the proposed change would
encourage the submission of additional
order flow to a public exchange, thereby
promoting market depth, execution
incentives and enhanced execution
opportunities, as well as price discovery
and transparency for all Members. As a
result, the Exchange believes that the
proposed change furthers the
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Commission’s goal in adopting
Regulation NMS of fostering
competition among orders, which
promotes ‘‘more efficient pricing of
individual stocks for all types of orders,
large and small.’’
The Exchange believes the proposed
rule change does not impose any burden
on intramarket competition that is not
necessary or appropriate in furtherance
of the purposes of the Act. Particularly,
the proposed change applies to all
Members equally in that all Members
are eligible for the proposed Growth
Tier and Non-Displayed Step-Up Tier,
have a reasonable opportunity to meet
the tiers’ criteria and will all
automatically and uniformly receive the
corresponding enhanced rebate on their
respective qualifying orders if such
criteria is met. Additionally, the
proposed tiers are designed to attract
additional overall order flow to the
Exchange. The Exchange believes that
the amended and additional tier criteria
would incentivize market participants
to grow their overall order flow
submitted to the Exchange, both
liquidity adding and removing order
flow, bringing with it improved price
transparency. The Exchange believes
greater overall order flow and pricing
transparency benefits all market
participants on the Exchange by
providing more trading opportunities,
enhancing market quality, and
continuing to encourage Members to
send orders, thereby contributing
towards a robust and well-balanced
market ecosystem, which benefits all
market participants.
The Exchange believes the proposed
rule change does not impose any burden
on intermarket competition that is not
necessary or appropriate in furtherance
of the purposes of the Act. As
previously discussed, the Exchange
operates in a highly competitive market.
Members have numerous alternative
venues that they may participate on and
direct their order flow, including 15
other equities exchanges and offexchange venues and alternative trading
systems. Additionally, the Exchange
represents a small percentage of the
overall market. Based on publicly
available information, no single equities
exchange has more than 16% of the
market share. Therefore, no exchange
possesses significant pricing power in
the execution of order flow. Indeed,
participants can readily choose to send
their orders to other exchange and offexchange venues if they deem fee levels
at those other venues to be more
favorable. Moreover, the Commission
has repeatedly expressed its preference
for competition over regulatory
intervention in determining prices,
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9409
products, and services in the securities
markets. Specifically, in Regulation
NMS, the Commission highlighted the
importance of market forces in
determining prices and SRO revenues
and, also, recognized that current
regulation of the market system ‘‘has
been remarkably successful in
promoting market competition in its
broader forms that are most important to
investors and listed companies.’’ The
fact that this market is competitive has
also long been recognized by the courts.
In NetCoalition v. Securities and
Exchange Commission, the D.C. Circuit
stated as follows: ‘‘[n]o one disputes
that competition for order flow is
‘fierce.’ . . . As the SEC explained, ‘[i]n
the U.S. national market system, buyers
and sellers of securities, and the brokerdealers that act as their order-routing
agents, have a wide range of choices of
where to route orders for execution’;
[and] ‘no exchange can afford to take its
market share percentages for granted’
because ‘no exchange possesses a
monopoly, regulatory or otherwise, in
the execution of order flow from broker
dealers’. . . .’’. Accordingly, the
Exchange does not believe its proposed
fee change imposes any burden on
competition that is not necessary or
appropriate in furtherance of the
purposes of the Act.
C. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
Statement on Comments on the
Proposed Rule Change Received From
Members, Participants, or Others
The Exchange neither solicited nor
received comments on the proposed
rule change.
III. Date of Effectiveness of the
Proposed Rule Change and Timing for
Commission Action
The foregoing rule change has become
effective pursuant to Section 19(b)(3)(A)
of the Act 23 and paragraph (f) of Rule
19b–4 24 thereunder. At any time within
60 days of the filing of the proposed rule
change, the Commission summarily may
temporarily suspend such rule change if
it appears to the Commission that such
action is necessary or appropriate in the
public interest, for the protection of
investors, or otherwise in furtherance of
the purposes of the Act. If the
Commission takes such action, the
Commission will institute proceedings
to determine whether the proposed rule
change should be approved or
disapproved.
23 15
24 17
E:\FR\FM\12FEN1.SGM
U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A).
CFR 240.19b–4(f).
12FEN1
9410
Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 28 / Friday, February 12, 2021 / Notices
IV. Solicitation of Comments
Interested persons are invited to
submit written data, views and
arguments concerning the foregoing,
including whether the proposed rule
change is consistent with the Act.
Comments may be submitted by any of
the following methods:
• 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 Number SR–
CboeEDGX–2021–009 on the subject
line.
Paper Comments
• Send paper comments in triplicate
to Secretary, Securities and Exchange
Commission, 100 F Street NE,
Washington, DC 20549–1090.
All submissions should refer to File
Number SR–CboeEDGX–2021–009. 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 website (https://www.sec.gov/
rules/sro.shtml). Copies of the
submission, all subsequent
amendments, all written statements
with respect to the proposed rule
change that are filed with the
Commission, and all written
communications relating to the
proposed rule change 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 website 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
10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Copies of the
filing also will be available for
inspection and copying at the principal
office of the Exchange. All comments
received will be posted without change.
Persons submitting comments are
cautioned that we do not redact or edit
personal identifying information from
comment submissions. You should
submit only information that you wish
to make available publicly. All
submissions should refer to File
Number SR–CboeEDGX–2021–009 and
should be submitted on or before March
5, 2021.
CFR 200.30–3(a)(12).
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:27 Feb 11, 2021
[FR Doc. 2021–02857 Filed 2–11–21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011–01–P
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
Electronic Comments
25 17
For the Commission, by the Division of
Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated
authority.25
J. Matthew DeLesDernier,
Assistant Secretary.
Jkt 253001
[Release No. 34–91079; File No. SR–OCC–
2020–016]
Self-Regulatory Organizations; The
Options Clearing Corporation; Order
Approving Proposed Rule Change to
Concerning the Options Clearing
Corporation’s System for Theoretical
Analysis and Numerical Simulation
(‘‘STANS’’) Methodology
Documentation
February 8, 2021.
I. Introduction
On December 9, 2020, the Options
Clearing Corporation (‘‘OCC’’) filed with
the Securities and Exchange
Commission (‘‘Commission’’) the
proposed rule change SR–OCC–2020–
016 (‘‘Proposed Rule Change’’) pursuant
to Section 19(b) of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934 (‘‘Exchange
Act’’) 1 and Rule 19b–4 2 thereunder to
adopt a new document describing OCC’s
system for calculating daily and intraday margin requirements for its Clearing
Members.3 The Proposed Rule Change
was published for public comment in
the Federal Register on December 29,
2020.4 The Commission has received no
comments regarding the Proposed Rule
Change. This order approves the
Proposed Rule Change.
II. Background
To manage the credit risk posed by its
Clearing Members, OCC collects margin
collateral both daily and intraday. OCC
uses its System for Theoretical Analysis
and Numerical Simulation (‘‘STANS’’)
to set risk-based margin requirements
for its Clearing Members. The margin
requirements calculated using STANS
consist of an estimate of a 99 percent
expected shortfall (‘‘ES’’) over a two-day
time horizon with additional charges for
model risk, stress tests, liquidation
costs, and various add-ons.
OCC maintains technical
documentation that describes how the
various quantitative components of
1 15
U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).
CFR 240.19b–4.
3 See Notice of Filing infra note 4, 85 FR at 85788.
4 Securities Exchange Act Release No. 34–90763
(Dec. 21, 2020), 85 FR 85788 (Dec. 29, 2020) (File
No. SR–OCC–2020–016) (‘‘Notice of Filing’’).
2 17
PO 00000
Frm 00094
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
STANS were developed and operate,
including the various parameters and
assumptions contained within those
components 5 and the mathematical
theories underlying the selection of
those quantitative methods (‘‘Model
Whitepapers’’). The Model Whitepapers
are currently synthesized in a single
document, the Margins Methodology,
describing how STANS operates from
end to end. Pursuant to section 19(b) of
the Exchange Act and Rule 19b–4
thereunder,6 OCC has filed, and the
Commission has approved, sections of
OCC’s Margins Methodology as rules in
the past.7 OCC has not, however, filed
the Margins Methodology in its entirety.
Additionally, OCC has requested
confidential treatment for those sections
of the Margins Methodology that it has
filed with the Commission.8
OCC now proposes to replace the
Margins Methodology in its entirety
(both sections that have and have not
been filed as rules) with a description of
OCC’s system for calculating daily and
intra-day margin requirements for its
Clearing Members (the ‘‘STANS
Methodology Description’’).9 OCC stated
that the proposed STANS Methodology
Description includes the material
aspects of OCC’s risk-based margin
system.10 OCC intends to make the
proposed STANS Methodology
5 See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 82473
(Jan. 9, 2018), 83 FR 2271 (Jan. 16, 2018) (File No.
SR–OCC–2017–011), which describes how OCC
periodically reviews the parameters and
assumptions used by STANS pursuant to its Model
Risk Management Policy and in accordance with 17
CFR 240.17Ad–22(e)(6).
6 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1) and 17 CFR 240.19b–4.
7 See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 74966
(May 14, 2015), 80 FR 29784 (May 22, 2015) (File
No. SR–OCC–2015–010); Securities Exchange Act
Release No. 76128 (Dec. 28, 2015), 81 FR 135 (Jan.
4, 2016) (File No. SR–OCC–2015–016); Securities
Exchange Act Release No. 79818 (Jan. 18, 2017), 82
FR 8455 (Jan. 25, 2017) (File No. SR–OCC–2017–
001); Securities Exchange Act Release No. 82161
(Nov. 28, 2017), 82 FR 57306 (Dec. 4, 2017) (File
No. SR–OCC–2017–022); Securities Exchange Act
Release No. 84524 (Nov. 2, 2018), 83 FR 55918
(Nov. 8, 2018) (File No. SR–OCC–2018–014);
Securities Exchange Act Release No. 85440 (Mar.
28, 2019), 84 FR 13082 (Apr. 3, 2019) (File No. SR–
OCC–2019–002); Securities Exchange Act Release
No. 85755 (Apr. 30, 2019), 87 FR 19815 (May 6,
2019) (File No. SR–OCC–2019–004); Securities
Exchange Act Release No. 86296 (Jul. 3, 2019), 84
FR 32816 (Jul. 9, 2019) (File No. SR–OCC–2019–
005); Securities Exchange Act Release No. 87387
(Oct. 23, 2019), 84 FR 57890 (Oct. 29, 2019) (File
No. SR–OCC–2019–010); Securities Exchange Act
Release No. 89392 (Jul. 24, 2020), 85 FR 45938 (Jul.
30,2020) (File No. SR–OCC–2020–007); Securities
Exchange Act Release No. 90139 (Oct. 8, 2020), 85
FR 65886 (Oct. 16, 2020) (File No. SR– OCC–2020–
012).
8 See id.
9 OCC also proposes conforming changes to its
Margin Policy.
10 See Notice of Filing, 85 FR at 85789.
E:\FR\FM\12FEN1.SGM
12FEN1
Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 28 (Friday, February 12, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9406-9410]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-02857]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
[Release No. 34-91078; File No. SR-CboeEDGX-2021-009]
Self-Regulatory Organizations; Cboe EDGX Exchange, Inc.; Notice
of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change
Relating To Amend the Fee Schedule
February 8, 2021.
Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
(the ``Act''),\1\ and Rule 19b-4 thereunder,\2\ notice is hereby given
that on February 1, 2021, Cboe EDGX Exchange, Inc. (the ``Exchange'' or
``EDGX'') filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the
``Commission'') the proposed rule change as described in Items I, II,
and III below, which Items have been prepared by the Exchange. The
Commission is publishing this notice to solicit comments on the
proposed rule change from interested persons.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).
\2\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Terms of Substance
of the Proposed Rule Change
Cboe EDGX Exchange, Inc. (the ``Exchange'' or ``EDGX'') is filing
with the Securities and Exchange Commission (``Commission'') a proposed
rule change to amend the fee schedule. The text of the proposed rule
change is provided in Exhibit 5.
The text of the proposed rule change is also available on the
Exchange's website (https://markets.cboe.com/us/options/regulation/rule_filings/edgx/), at the Exchange's Office of the Secretary, and at
the Commission's Public Reference Room.
[[Page 9407]]
II. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Purpose of, and
Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule Change
In its filing with the Commission, the Exchange included statements
concerning the purpose of and basis for the proposed rule change and
discussed any comments it received on the proposed rule change. The
text of these statements may be examined at the places specified in
Item IV below. The Exchange has prepared summaries, set forth in
sections A, B, and C below, of the most significant aspects of such
statements.
A. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Purpose of, and
Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule Change
1. Purpose
The Exchange proposes to amend its fee schedule applicable to its
equities trading platform (``EDGX Equities'') by amending its Add/
Remove Volume Tiers, effective February 1, 2021.
The Exchange first notes that it operates in a highly competitive
market in which market participants can readily direct order flow to
competing venues if they deem fee levels at a particular venue to be
excessive or incentives to be insufficient. More specifically, the
Exchange is only one of 16 registered equities exchanges, as well as a
number of alternative trading systems and other off-exchange venues
that do not have similar self-regulatory responsibilities under the
Exchange Act, to which market participants may direct their order flow.
Based on publicly available information,\3\ no single registered
equities exchange has more than 16% of the market share. Thus, in such
a low-concentrated and highly competitive market, no single equities
exchange possesses significant pricing power in the execution of order
flow. The Exchange in particular operates a ``Maker-Taker'' model
whereby it pays credits to members that provide liquidity and assesses
fees to those that remove liquidity. The Exchange's fee schedule sets
forth the standard rebates and rates applied per share for orders that
provide and remove liquidity, respectively. Currently, for orders
priced at or above $1.00, the Exchange provides a standard rebate of
$0.0016 per share for orders that add liquidity and assesses a fee of
$0.0027 per share for orders that remove liquidity. For orders priced
below $1.00, the Exchange [sic] a standard rebate of $0.00009 per share
for orders that add liquidity and assesses a fee of 0.30% of Dollar
Value for orders that remove liquidity. Additionally, in response to
the competitive environment, the Exchange also offers tiered pricing
which provides Members opportunities to qualify for higher rebates or
reduced fees where certain volume criteria and thresholds are met.
Tiered pricing provides an incremental incentive for Members to strive
for higher tier levels, which provides increasingly higher benefits or
discounts for satisfying increasingly more stringent criteria.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ See Cboe Global Markets, U.S. Equities Market Volume
Summary, Month-to-Date (January 25, 2021), available at https://markets.cboe.com/us/equities/market_statistics/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Currently, the Exchange provides for certain Add/Remove Volume
Tiers under footnote 1 of the Fee Schedule. More specifically, the Add/
Remove Volume Tiers provide for seven different volume tiers that offer
enhanced rebates on Members' orders yielding fee codes ``B'' \4\, ``V''
\5\, ``Y'' \6\, ``3'' \7\ and ``4'' \8\, where a Member reaches certain
volume-based criteria offered in each tier. Two of these tiers are
``Growth Tiers'', which are designed to encourage growth in order flow
by providing specific criteria in which Members must increase their
relative liquidity each month over a predetermined baseline. Growth
Tier 2, for example, provides an enhanced rebate of $0.0027 on
qualifying orders (i.e., B, V, Y, 3 and 4) where a Member has a Retail
Step-Up Add TCV \9\ (i.e., yielding fee code ZA) \10\ from May 2020
that is greater than or equal to 0.10%. The Exchange now proposes to
amend Growth Tier 2 to provide an increased enhanced rebated of $0.0030
on qualifying orders where a Member: (1) Has a Step-Up Add TCV from
January 2021 greater than or equal to 0.10%; (2) adds an ADV \11\
greater than or equal to 0.50% of the TCV; and (3) removes an ADV of
greater than or equal to 0.80% of the TCV.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ Appended to orders that add liquidity to EDGX (Tape B) and
offers a rebate of $0.0016 per share.
\5\ Appended to orders that add liquidity to EDGX (Tape A) and
offers a rebate of $0.0016 per share.
\6\ Appended to orders that add liquidity to EDGX (Tape C) and
offers a rebate of $0.0016 per share.
\7\ Appended to orders that add liquidity to EDGX pre and post
market (Tape A or C) and offers a rebate of $0.0016 per share.
\8\ Appended to orders that add liquidity to EDGX pre and post
market (Tape B) and offers a rebate of $0.0016 per share.
\9\ ``Step-Up Add TCV'' means ADAV as a percentage of TCV in the
relevant baseline month subtracted from current ADAV as a percentage
of TCV. ``TCV'' means total consolidated volume calculated as the
volume reported by all exchanges and trade reporting facilities to a
consolidated transaction reporting plan for the month for which the
fees apply. ``ADAV'' means ADAV means average daily added volume
calculated as the number of shares added per day. ADAV is calculated
on a monthly basis.
\10\ Appended to Retail Orders that add liquidity to EDGX and
offers a rebate of $0.0032 per share.
\11\ ``ADV'' means average daily volume calculated as the number
of shares added to, removed from, or routed by, the Exchange, or any
combination or subset thereof, per day. ADV is calculated on a
monthly basis.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Additionally, under the Add/Remove Volume Tiers in footnote 1 of
the Fee Schedule, the Exchange also provides for three Non-Displayed
Add Volume Tiers, which offer enhanced rebates on Members' orders
yielding fee codes ``DM'' \12\, ``HA'' \13\, ``MM'' \14\ and ``RP''
\15\ where a Member reaches certain required volume-based criteria
offered in each tier. For example, Non-Displayed Add Volume Tier 3
provides an enhanced rebated of $0.0025 on qualifying orders (i.e., DM,
HA, MM and RP) where a Member has an ADAV \16\ of greater than or equal
to 0.10% of TCV for Non-Displayed orders that yield fee codes DM, HA,
HI, MM or RP. The Exchange now proposes to add a new Non-Displayed
tier, specifically, a Non-Displayed Step-Up Tier, which provides an
enhanced rebate of $0.0025 where a Member: (1) Has a Step-Up Add TCV
from January 2021 greater than or equal to 0.10%; (2) adds an ADV
greater than or equal to 0.50% of the TCV; and (3) removes an ADV of
greater than or equal to 0.80% of the TCV.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\12\ Appended to orders that add liquidity using MidPoint
Discretionary order within discretionary range and are provided a
rebate of $0.00100.
\13\ Appended to non-displayed orders that add liquidity and are
provided a rebate of $0.00100.
\14\ Appended to non-displayed orders that add liquidity using
Mid-Point Peg and are provided a rebate of $0.00100.
\15\ Appended to non-displayed orders that add liquidity using
Supplemental Peg and are provided a rebate of $0.00100.
\16\ ``ADAV'' means ADAV means average daily added volume
calculated as the number of shares added per day. ADAV is calculated
on a monthly basis.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Growth Tier 2, as amended, and the new Non-Displayed Step-Up Tier,
both of which offer the same three-pronged criteria, are designed to
incentivize overall order flow, particularly by offering enhanced
rebates for both displayed (i.e., B, V, Y, 3 and 4) and non-displayed
(DM, HA, MM and RP) orders if a Member meets the different,
incrementally more difficult criteria as amended in Growth Tier 2 or
the additional opportunity as provided in the proposed Non-Displayed
Step-Up Tier. Specifically the proposed criteria will encourage a
Member to: (1) Grow in overall order flow (by providing criteria in
which a Member must increase relative overall order flow, not just
retail order flow, each month over baseline liquidity in January 2021);
(2) increase
[[Page 9408]]
liquidity adding volume; and (3) increase in liquidity removing volume,
in order to receive the proposed enhanced rebates. Overall, the
proposed criteria and enhanced rebates provide an additional
opportunity for Members to submit more order flow inclusive of all
orders, liquidity adding Members on the Exchange to contribute to a
deeper, more liquid market, and liquidity executing Members on the
Exchange to increase transactions and take execution opportunities
provided by such increased liquidity, together providing for overall
enhanced price discovery and price improvement opportunities on the
Exchange. As such, increased overall order flow benefits all Members by
contributing towards a robust and well-balanced market ecosystem.
2. Statutory Basis
The Exchange believes that the proposed rule change is consistent
with the objectives of Section 6 of the Act,\17\ in general, and
furthers the objectives of Section 6(b)(4),\18\ in particular, as it is
designed to provide for the equitable allocation of reasonable dues,
fees and other charges among its Members, issuers and other persons
using its facilities. The Exchange also believes that the proposed rule
change is consistent with the objectives of Section 6(b)(5) \19\
requirements that the rules of an exchange be designed to prevent
fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices, to promote just and
equitable principles of trade, to foster cooperation and coordination
with persons engaged in regulating, clearing, settling, processing
information with respect to, and facilitating transactions in
securities, to remove impediments to and perfect the mechanism of a
free and open market and a national market system, and, in general, to
protect investors and the public interest, and, particularly, is not
designed to permit unfair discrimination between customers, issuers,
brokers, or dealers.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\17\ 15 U.S.C. 78f.
\18\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(4).
\19\ 15 U.S.C. 78f.(b)(5).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
As described above, the Exchange operates in a highly competitive
market in which market participants can readily direct order flow to
competing venues if they deem fee levels at a particular venue to be
excessive or incentives to be insufficient. The proposed rule change
reflects a competitive pricing structure designed to incentivize market
participants to direct their order flow to the Exchange, which the
Exchange believes would enhance market quality to the benefit of all
Members. In particular, the Exchange believes the proposed changes to
Growth Tier 2 and the proposed new Non-Displayed Step-Up Tier are
reasonable because they either amend an existing opportunity or provide
an additional opportunity for Members to receive an enhanced rebate on
qualifying orders by means of overall order flow, including both
liquidity adding and removing orders. The Exchange notes that relative
volume-based incentives and discounts have been widely adopted by
exchanges,\20\ including the Exchange,\21\ and are reasonable,
equitable and non-discriminatory because they are open to all members
on an equal basis and provide additional benefits or discounts that are
reasonably related to (i) the value to an exchange's market quality and
(ii) associated higher levels of market activity, such as higher levels
of liquidity provision and/or growth patterns. Additionally, as noted
above, the Exchange operates in a highly competitive market. The
Exchange is only one of several equity venues to which market
participants may direct their order flow, and it represents a small
percentage of the overall market. It is also only one of several maker-
taker exchanges. Competing equity exchanges offer similar tiered
pricing structures to that of the Exchange, including schedules of
rebates and fees that apply based upon members achieving certain volume
and/or growth thresholds. These competing pricing schedules, moreover,
are presently comparable to those that the Exchange provides, including
the pricing of comparable tiers.\22\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\20\ See e.g., Nasdaq PSX Price List [sic], Rebate to Add
Displayed Liquidity (Per Share Executed), and Rebate to Add Other
Non-Displayed Liquidity, which provide rebates to members for adding
displayed and non-displayed liquidity over certain thresholds of TCV
ranging between $0.00075 and $0.00305, available at https://nasdaqtrader.com/Trader.aspx?id=PriceListTrading2; and Cboe BZX U.S.
Equities Exchange Fee Schedule, Footnote 1, Add Volume Tiers, which
provides similar incentives for displayed and non-displayed
liquidity and offers rebates ranging between $0.0018 and $0.0031.
\21\ See generally, Cboe EDGX U.S. Equities Exchange Fee
Schedule, Footnote 1, Add Volume Tiers [sic].
\22\ See supra note 20.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Moreover, the Exchange believes the two proposed tiers are a
reasonable means to encourage overall growth in Members' overall order
flow to the Exchange and to incentivize Members to continue to provide
liquidity adding and liquidity removing to the Exchange by offering
them a different or additional opportunity than those opportunities
currently under the Add/Remove Volume Tiers to receive an enhanced
rebate on qualifying orders. The Exchange believes that the proposed
tiers, each based on a Member's overall growth in all order flow and
their liquidity adding and removing orders, will generally benefit all
market participants by incentivizing continuous liquidity and thus,
deeper more liquid markets as well as increased execution
opportunities. Indeed, the Exchange notes that greater add volume order
flow may provide for deeper, more liquid markets and execution
opportunities, and greater remove volume order flow may increase
transactions on the Exchange, which the Exchange believes incentivizes
liquidity providers to submit additional liquidity and execution
opportunities, thus, providing an overall increase in price discovery
and transparency on the Exchange.
Further, the Exchange believes that the proposed rule changes are
reasonable as they do not represent a significant departure from the
current criteria or enhanced rebates currently offered in the Fee
Schedule. First, the Exchange believes that modifying existing criteria
in Growth Tier 2 is reasonably designed to be incrementally more
difficult to achieve than the current criteria and therefore is
commensurate with the proposed increased enhanced rebate. The Exchange
also believes that the proposed criteria and enhanced rebate remains in
line with the incremental increase in difficulty from Growth Tier 1.
Growth Tier 1 may be met if a Member: (1) Adds an ADV greater than or
equal to 0.20% of the TCV; and (2) has a Step-Up Add TCV from March
2019 of greater than or equal to 0.10%., whereas proposed Growth Tier 2
provides for an additional prong of criteria, as well as modestly
increased percentages of ADV over TCV, that a Member must meet to
receive an enhanced rebate. Second, the Exchange believes that the
proposed criteria in the new Non-Displayed Step-Up Tier is of
comparable difficulty to the criteria in Non-Displayed Add Volume Tier
3, which offers the same enhanced rebate for the same qualifying orders
if a Member has an ADAV greater than or equal to 0.10% of TCV for Non-
Displayed orders that yield fee codes DM, HA, HI, MM or RP. The
Exchange notes that the sum of Non-Displayed orders only as an add-
volume (ADAV) percentage presents a more narrow, thus comparable in
difficulty, type of order flow that a Member must submit to achieve the
criteria in Non-Displayed Add Volume Tier 3, and therefore, the
proposed enhanced rebate offered under the Non-Displayed Step-Up Tier
is commensurate with the same enhanced
[[Page 9409]]
rebate offered under Non-Displayed Add Volume Tier 3.
The Exchange believes that the proposal represents an equitable
allocation of fees and rebates and is not unfairly discriminatory
because all Members will continue to be eligible for Growth Tier 2, as
amended, and all Members will be eligible for proposed Non-Displayed
Step-Up Tier. All Members will have the opportunity to meet the two
tiers' criteria and will receive the proposed corresponding enhanced
rebates for their respective qualifying orders if they meet such
criteria. Without having a view of activity on other markets and off-
exchange venues, the Exchange has no way of knowing whether this
proposed rule change would definitely result in any Members qualifying
for the proposed tiers. While the Exchange has no way of predicting
with certainty how the proposed tier will impact Member activity, the
Exchange anticipates that at least three Members will be able to
compete for and reach the proposed criteria in Growth Tier 2 and the
Non-Displayed Step-Up Tier. The Exchange anticipates that multiple
Member types will compete to reach the proposed tiers, broker-dealers
and liquidity providers, each providing distinct types of order flow to
the Exchange to the benefit of all market participants. The Exchange
also notes that proposed tiers will not adversely impact any Member's
pricing or ability to qualify for other reduced fee or enhanced rebate
tiers. Should a Member not meet the proposed criteria under either of
the proposed tiers, the Member will merely not receive that
corresponding enhanced rebate. Furthermore, the proposed enhanced
rebates in Growth Tier 2 and the Non-Displayed Step-Up Tier will each
automatically and uniformly apply to all Members' qualifying orders for
all Members that meet the required criteria under the proposed tiers.
B. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement on Burden on Competition
The Exchange does not believe that the proposed rule changes will
impose any burden on competition not necessary or appropriate in
furtherance of the purposes of the Act. Rather, as discussed above, the
Exchange believes that the proposed change would encourage the
submission of additional order flow to a public exchange, thereby
promoting market depth, execution incentives and enhanced execution
opportunities, as well as price discovery and transparency for all
Members. As a result, the Exchange believes that the proposed change
furthers the Commission's goal in adopting Regulation NMS of fostering
competition among orders, which promotes ``more efficient pricing of
individual stocks for all types of orders, large and small.''
The Exchange believes the proposed rule change does not impose any
burden on intramarket competition that is not necessary or appropriate
in furtherance of the purposes of the Act. Particularly, the proposed
change applies to all Members equally in that all Members are eligible
for the proposed Growth Tier and Non-Displayed Step-Up Tier, have a
reasonable opportunity to meet the tiers' criteria and will all
automatically and uniformly receive the corresponding enhanced rebate
on their respective qualifying orders if such criteria is met.
Additionally, the proposed tiers are designed to attract additional
overall order flow to the Exchange. The Exchange believes that the
amended and additional tier criteria would incentivize market
participants to grow their overall order flow submitted to the
Exchange, both liquidity adding and removing order flow, bringing with
it improved price transparency. The Exchange believes greater overall
order flow and pricing transparency benefits all market participants on
the Exchange by providing more trading opportunities, enhancing market
quality, and continuing to encourage Members to send orders, thereby
contributing towards a robust and well-balanced market ecosystem, which
benefits all market participants.
The Exchange believes the proposed rule change does not impose any
burden on intermarket competition that is not necessary or appropriate
in furtherance of the purposes of the Act. As previously discussed, the
Exchange operates in a highly competitive market. Members have numerous
alternative venues that they may participate on and direct their order
flow, including 15 other equities exchanges and off-exchange venues and
alternative trading systems. Additionally, the Exchange represents a
small percentage of the overall market. Based on publicly available
information, no single equities exchange has more than 16% of the
market share. Therefore, no exchange possesses significant pricing
power in the execution of order flow. Indeed, participants can readily
choose to send their orders to other exchange and off-exchange venues
if they deem fee levels at those other venues to be more favorable.
Moreover, the Commission has repeatedly expressed its preference for
competition over regulatory intervention in determining prices,
products, and services in the securities markets. Specifically, in
Regulation NMS, the Commission highlighted the importance of market
forces in determining prices and SRO revenues and, also, recognized
that current regulation of the market system ``has been remarkably
successful in promoting market competition in its broader forms that
are most important to investors and listed companies.'' The fact that
this market is competitive has also long been recognized by the courts.
In NetCoalition v. Securities and Exchange Commission, the D.C. Circuit
stated as follows: ``[n]o one disputes that competition for order flow
is `fierce.' . . . As the SEC explained, `[i]n the U.S. national market
system, buyers and sellers of securities, and the broker-dealers that
act as their order-routing agents, have a wide range of choices of
where to route orders for execution'; [and] `no exchange can afford to
take its market share percentages for granted' because `no exchange
possesses a monopoly, regulatory or otherwise, in the execution of
order flow from broker dealers'. . . .''. Accordingly, the Exchange
does not believe its proposed fee change imposes any burden on
competition that is not necessary or appropriate in furtherance of the
purposes of the Act.
C. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement on Comments on the Proposed
Rule Change Received From Members, Participants, or Others
The Exchange neither solicited nor received comments on the
proposed rule change.
III. Date of Effectiveness of the Proposed Rule Change and Timing for
Commission Action
The foregoing rule change has become effective pursuant to Section
19(b)(3)(A) of the Act \23\ and paragraph (f) of Rule 19b-4 \24\
thereunder. At any time within 60 days of the filing of the proposed
rule change, the Commission summarily may temporarily suspend such rule
change if it appears to the Commission that such action is necessary or
appropriate in the public interest, for the protection of investors, or
otherwise in furtherance of the purposes of the Act. If the Commission
takes such action, the Commission will institute proceedings to
determine whether the proposed rule change should be approved or
disapproved.
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\23\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A).
\24\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4(f).
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[[Page 9410]]
IV. Solicitation of Comments
Interested persons are invited to submit written data, views and
arguments concerning the foregoing, including whether the proposed rule
change 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 [email protected]. Please
include File Number SR-CboeEDGX-2021-009 on the subject line.
Paper Comments
Send paper comments in triplicate to Secretary, Securities
and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street NE, Washington, DC 20549-1090.
All submissions should refer to File Number SR-CboeEDGX-2021-009. 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 website (https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml).
Copies of the submission, all subsequent amendments, all written
statements with respect to the proposed rule change that are filed with
the Commission, and all written communications relating to the proposed
rule change 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 website 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 10:00 a.m. and
3:00 p.m. Copies of the filing also will be available for inspection
and copying at the principal office of the Exchange. All comments
received will be posted without change. Persons submitting comments are
cautioned that we do not redact or edit personal identifying
information from comment submissions. You should submit only
information that you wish to make available publicly. All submissions
should refer to File Number SR-CboeEDGX-2021-009 and should be
submitted on or before March 5, 2021.
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\25\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(12).
For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets,
pursuant to delegated authority.\25\
J. Matthew DeLesDernier,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2021-02857 Filed 2-11-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P