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]

Download as PDF 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 VerDate Sep<11>2014 17:27 Feb 11, 2021 Jkt 253001 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 PO 00000 Frm 00090 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 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. 12FEN1 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 28 / Friday, February 12, 2021 / Notices 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/. VerDate Sep<11>2014 17:27 Feb 11, 2021 Jkt 253001 [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. PO 00000 Frm 00091 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 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. E:\FR\FM\12FEN1.SGM 12FEN1 9408 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 VerDate Sep<11>2014 17:27 Feb 11, 2021 Jkt 253001 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. PO 00000 Frm 00092 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 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 E:\FR\FM\12FEN1.SGM 12FEN1 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 28 / Friday, February 12, 2021 / Notices 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 VerDate Sep<11>2014 17:27 Feb 11, 2021 Jkt 253001 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, PO 00000 Frm 00093 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 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]


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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.
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    \1\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).
    \2\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4.
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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.
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    \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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \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


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