Self-Regulatory Organizations; Cboe EDGX Exchange, Inc.; Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change To Amend the Fee Schedule, 13918-13922 [2021-05023]
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Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility Waste (License No. SNM–1107, Docket No. 70–1151), dated October
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Safety Evaluation Report ...................................................................................................................................
NUREG–1757, Volume 1, Revision 2, ‘‘Consolidated Decommissioning Guidance’’ .......................................
Dated: March 8, 2021.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Jacob I. Zimmerman,
Chief, Fuel Facility Licensing Branch,
Division of Fuel Management, Office of
Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
Engagement and Research
Cooperation (Public Meeting)
(Contact: Marilyn Diaz Maldonado: 301–
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Additional Information: Due to
COVID–19, there will be no physical
public attendance. The public is invited
to attend the Commission’s meeting live
by webcast at the Web address—https://
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[FR Doc. 2021–05094 Filed 3–10–21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590–01–P
NUCLEAR REGULATORY
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10:45 a.m. Affirmation Session (Public
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Southern Nuclear Operating Co., Inc.
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CONTACT PERSON FOR MORE INFORMATION:
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Dated: March 8, 2021.
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ML20287A545.
ML20266G551.
ML20302A085.
ML063000243.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Wesley W. Held,
Policy Coordinator, Office of the Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2021–05129 Filed 3–9–21; 11:15 am]
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[FR Doc. 2021–05011 Filed 3–10–21; 8:45 am]
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[Release No. 34–91260; File No. SR–
CboeEDGX–2021–013]
Self-Regulatory Organizations; Cboe
EDGX Exchange, Inc.; Notice of Filing
and Immediate Effectiveness of a
Proposed Rule Change To Amend the
Fee Schedule
March 5, 2021.
Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the
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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 46 / Thursday, March 11, 2021 / Notices
A. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
Statement of the Purpose of, and
Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule
Change
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 19% 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 $0.00160
per share for orders that add liquidity
and assesses a fee of $0.00270 per share
for orders that remove liquidity. For
orders priced below $1.00, the Exchange
provides 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.
The Exchange believes that the evershifting market share among the
exchanges from month to month
demonstrates that market participants
can shift order flow, or discontinue or
reduce use of certain categories of
products, in response to fee changes.
Accordingly, competitive forces
constrain the Exchange’s transaction
fees, and market participants can readily
trade on competing venues if they deem
pricing levels at those other venues to
be more favorable.
1. Purpose
Standard Removing Liquidity Fee
The Exchange proposes to amend its
fee schedule in connection with its
standard removing liquidity fees and
Add/Remove Volume Tiers. The
Exchange proposes to implement the
proposed change to its fee schedule on
March 1, 2021.
As stated above, the Exchange
currently provides a standard fee of
$0.00270 per share for liquidity
removing orders (i.e., those yielding fee
‘‘Act’’),1 and Rule 19b–4 thereunder,2
notice is hereby given that on March 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 applicable to Members and
non-Members of the Exchange pursuant
to EDGX Rules 15.1(a) and (c). Changes
to the fee schedule pursuant to this
proposal are effective upon filing. 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.
II. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
Statement of the Purpose of, and
Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule
Change
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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.
1 15
2 17
U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).
CFR 240.19b–4.
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3 See Cboe Global Markets, U.S. Equities Market
Volume Summary, Month-to-Date (February 24,
2021), available at https://markets.cboe.com/us/
equities/market_statistics/.
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13919
codes N,4 W,5 6,6 BB,7 and ZR 8) in
securities priced at or above $1.00.
Orders in securities priced below $1.00
that remove liquidity are assessed a fee
of 0.30% of the dollar value. The
Exchange now proposes to increase the
current standard fee of $0.00270 per
share to $0.00280 per share for orders
that remove liquidity for securities
priced at or above $1.00. Orders that
remove liquidity in securities priced
below $1.00 would continue to be
assessed a fee of 0.30% of the dollar
value. Although this proposed standard
fee for liquidity removing orders is
higher than the current base rate for
such orders, the proposed fee is in line
with similar fees for liquidity removing
orders in place on other exchanges.9
Growth Tier 2 & Non-Displayed Step-Up
Tier
In addition to the standard fees and
rebates, 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’’ 10, ‘‘V’’ 11, ‘‘Y’’ 12,
4 Appended to orders that remove liquidity from
EDGX (Tape C) and charges a fee of $0.00270 per
share.
5 Appended to orders that remove liquidity from
EDGX (Tape A) and charges a fee of $0.00270 per
share.
6 Appended to orders that remove liquidity from
EDGX, pre and post market (All Tapes) and charges
a fee of $0.00270 per share.
7 Appended to orders that remove liquidity from
EDGX (Tape B) and charges a fee of $0.00270 per
share.
8 Appended to retail orders that remove liquidity
from EDGX and charges a fee of $0.00270 per share.
9 E.g., the Nasdaq base fee rate of $0.0030 for
liquidity removing orders in securities priced at or
above $1.00. See https://www.nasdaqtrader.com/
Trader.aspx?id=PriceListTrading2.
10 Appended to orders that add liquidity to EDGX
(Tape B) and offers a rebate of $0.00160 per share.
11 Appended to orders that add liquidity to EDGX
(Tape A) and offers a rebate of $0.00160 per share.
12 Appended to orders that add liquidity to EDGX
(Tape C) and offers a rebate of $0.00160 per share.
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‘‘3’’ 13 and ‘‘4’’ 14, 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 $0.0030 on qualifying orders
(i.e., B, V, Y, 3 and 4) where a Member
has (1) a Retail Step-Up Add TCV 15
(i.e., yielding fee code ZA) 16 from
January 2021 that is greater than or
equal to 0.10%; (2) an add ADV 17
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 ADV. The
Exchange now proposes to amend the
third criteria of the Growth Tier 2 to
provide for Members who remove an
ADV of greater than or equal to 0.75%
of the ADV, rather than 0.80%.
Additionally, under the Add/Remove
Volume Tiers in footnote 1 of the Fee
Schedule the Exchange also provides for
the Non-Displayed Step-Up Tier, which
offers enhanced rebates on Members’
orders yielding fee codes ‘‘DM’’ 18,
‘‘HA’’ 19, ‘‘MM’’ 20 and ‘‘RP’’ 21 where a
Member reaches certain required
volume-based criteria offered in each
tier. The Non-Displayed Step-Up Tier
provides an enhanced rebate of $0.0025
where a Member has: (1) 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
13 Appended to orders that add liquidity to EDGX
pre and post market (Tape A or C) and offers a
rebate of $0.00160 per share.
14 Appended to orders that add liquidity to EDGX
pre and post market (Tape B) and offers a rebate of
$0.00160 per share.
15 ‘‘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.
16 Appended to Retail Orders that add liquidity to
EDGX and offers a rebate of $0.0032 per share.
17 ‘‘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.
18 Appended to orders that add liquidity using
MidPoint Discretionary order within discretionary
range and are provided a rebate of $0.00100.
19 Appended to non-displayed orders that add
liquidity and are provided a rebate of $0.00100.
20 Appended to non-displayed orders that add
liquidity using Mid-Point Peg and are provided a
rebate of $0.00100.
21 Appended to non-displayed orders that add
liquidity using Supplemental Peg and are provided
a rebate of $0.00100.
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(3) removes an ADV of greater than or
equal to 0.80% of the TCV. The
Exchange now proposed to amend the
third criteria of the Non-Displayed StepUp Tier to provide for Members who
remove an ADV of greater than or equal
to 0.75% of the ADV, rather than 0.80%.
Both the Growth Tier 2 and the NonDisplayed Step-Up Tier, as amended,
offer the same three-pronged criteria
and 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 and NonDisplayed Step-Up Tier. Particularly,
the proposed amendment to the third
prong of the criteria is designed to
encourage a Member to increase
liquidity removing volume.
Remove Volume Tier
Pursuant to footnote 1 of the Fee
Schedule, the Exchange offers a Remove
Volume Tier (Tier 1) that provides
Members an opportunity to receive a
reduced fee of $0.0026 for liquidity
removing orders that yield fee codes BB,
N, and W. To qualify for the current
Remove Volume Tier, a Member must
have an ADAV 22 of greater than or
equal to 0.25% of the TCV with
displayed orders that yield fee codes B,
V or Y. The Exchange now proposes to
incrementally increase the reduced fee
to $0.0027 based on the proposed
standard fee change. Additionally, the
Exchange proposes to offer an
alternative qualification for the Remove
Volume Tier for a Member that adds
Retail Order ADV (i.e., yielding fee code
ZA) of greater than or equal to 0.45% of
the TCV. The proposal is designed to
encourage a Member to increase Retail
Order liquidity removing volume.
2. Statutory Basis
The Exchange believes that the
proposed rule change is consistent with
Section 6 of the Act,23 in general, and
furthers the requirements of Section
6(b)(4),24 in particular, as it is designed
to provide for the equitable allocation of
reasonable dues, fees and other charges
among its facilities and does not
unfairly discriminate between
customers, issuers, brokers or dealers.
The Exchange operates in a highlycompetitive market in which market
participants can readily direct order
flow to competing venues if they deem
22 ADAV means average daily volume calculated
as the number of shares added per day. ADAV is
calculated on a monthly basis.
23 15 U.S.C. 78f.
24 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(4).
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fee levels at a particular venue to be
excessive or incentives to be
insufficient.
In particular, the Exchange believes
that the proposed amendment to
increase the standard removing liquidity
fee is reasonable, equitable and nondiscriminatory because the proposed
change represents a modest fee increase
and such fee is equally applicable to all
liquidity removing orders and thus is
also equally applicable to all Members
of the Exchange. 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
relativel [sic] small percentage of the
overall market. Moreover, the proposed
standard fee for liquidity removing
orders is still lower than that offered at
other exchanges for similar
transactions.25
The Exchange believes the proposed
changes to Growth Tier 2, the NonDisplayed Step-Up Tier, and the
Remove Volume Tier are reasonable
because they either amend an existing
opportunity or add an alternative
opportunity for Members to receive an
enhanced rebate or reduced fee on
qualifying orders by means of overall
order flow, including liquidity adding
and removing orders. The Exchange
notes that relative volume-based
incentives and discounts have been
widely adopted by exchanges,26
including the Exchange,27 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. 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
25 See
supra note 9.
See e.g., Nasdaq PSX Price List, 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.
27 See generally, Cboe EDGX U.S. Equities
Exchange Fee Schedule, Footnote 1, Add Volume
Tiers.
26
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competing pricing schedules, moreover,
are presently comparable to those that
the Exchange provides, including the
pricing of comparable tiers.28
Moreover, the Exchange believes the
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 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 tier 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 third criteria in
Growth Tier 2 and the Non-Displayed
Step-Up Tier is reasonably designed to
ease the current criteria and therefore
incentivize Members to achieve the
enhanced rebate. Second, the Exchange
believes that the increase to the Remove
Volume Tier is reasonable as the fee
increase is incremental to the proposed
change to the standard liquidity
removing fee. Further, the proposed
additional criteria option to achieve the
Remove Volume Tier in is reasonable as
it would incentivize Members to meet
certain liquidity adding Retail Order
thresholds.
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
the Growth Tier 2, Non-Displayed StepUp Tier, and Remove Volume Tier, as
amended. All Members will have the
opportunity to meet the three tiers’
criteria and will receive the proposed
corresponding enhanced rebates or
reduced fee for their respective
28 See
supra note 3.
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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 amended
criteria in Growth Tier 2 and the NonDisplayed Step-Up Tier, and at least six
Members will be able to compete for
and reach the amended criteria in the
Remove Volume 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.
B. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
Statement on Burden on Competition
The Exchange does not believe that
the proposed rule change will impose
any burden on competition that is not
necessary or appropriate in furtherance
of the purposes of the Act. The
Exchange believes the proposed rule
change does not impose any burden on
intra-market competition that is not
necessary or appropriate in furtherance
of the purposes of the Act. 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
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13921
on intermarket competition that is not
necessary or appropriate in furtherance
of the purpose 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 19% of the market share.29
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,
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.’’ 30 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’. . . .’’.31 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.
29 See
supra 3.
Securities Exchange Act Release No. 51808
(June 9, 2005), 70 FR 37496, 37499 (June 29, 2005).
31 See NetCoalition v. SEC, 615 F.3d 525, 539
(D.C. Cir. 2010) (quoting Securities Exchange Act
Release No. 59039 (December 2, 2008), 73 FR
74770, 74782–83 (December 9, 2008) (SR–
NYSEArca–2006–21)).
30 See
E:\FR\FM\11MRN1.SGM
11MRN1
13922
Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 46 / Thursday, March 11, 2021 / Notices
The Exchange believes the proposed
rule changes do 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 to the standard
removing liquidity fee applies to all
liquidity removing orders equally, and
thus applies to all Members equally.
Similarly, the proposed tier changes
apply to all Members equally in that all
Members are eligible for the amended
Growth Tier 3, Non-Displayed Step-Up
Tier, and Remove Volume Tier, and
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 changes to the tier criteria are
designed to attract additional overall
order flow to the Exchange. The
Exchange believes that the amended 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.
khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
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 32 and paragraph (f) of Rule
19b–4 33 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
32 15
33 17
U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A).
CFR 240.19b–4(f).
VerDate Sep<11>2014
16:53 Mar 10, 2021
Jkt 253001
to determine whether the proposed rule
change should be approved or
disapproved.
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 rule-comments@
sec.gov. Please include File Number SR–
CboeEDGX–2021–013 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–2021–013. 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–2021–013 and
PO 00000
Frm 00049
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
should be submitted on or before April
1, 2021.
For the Commission, by the Division of
Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated
authority.34
J. Matthew DeLesDernier,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2021–05023 Filed 3–10–21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011–01–P
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
[Release No. 34–91265; File No. SR–
CboeBZX–2020–053]
Self-Regulatory Organizations; Cboe
BZX Exchange, Inc.; Notice of Filing of
Amendment Nos. 2 and 4 and Order
Granting Accelerated Approval of a
Proposed Rule Change, as Modified by
Amendment Nos. 2 and 4, To List and
Trade Shares of the 2x Long VIX
Futures ETF Under BZX Rule
14.11(f)(4) (Trust Issued Receipts)
March 5, 2021.
I. Introduction
On June 23, 2020, Cboe BZX
Exchange, Inc. (‘‘Exchange’’ or ‘‘BZX’’)
filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission (‘‘Commission’’), pursuant
to Section 19(b)(1) of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934 (‘‘Act’’) 1 and Rule
19b–4 thereunder,2 a proposed rule
change to list and trade shares
(‘‘Shares’’) of the 2x Long VIX Futures
ETF (‘‘Fund’’), a series of VS Trust
(‘‘Trust’’), under BZX Rule 14.11(f)(4)
(Trust Issued Receipts). On June 26,
2020, the Exchange filed Amendment
No. 1 to the proposed rule change. The
proposed rule change, as modified by
Amendment No. 1, was published for
comment in the Federal Register on July
10, 2020.3 On August 13, 2020, pursuant
to Section 19(b)(2) of the Act,4 the
Commission designated a longer period
within which to approve the proposed
rule change, disapprove the proposed
rule change, or institute proceedings to
determine whether to disapprove the
proposed rule change.5 On October 7,
2020, the Commission instituted
34 17
CFR 200.30–3(a)(12).
U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).
2 17 CFR 240.19b–4.
3 See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 89234
(July 6, 2020), 85 FR 41644. Comments on the
proposed rule change can be found at: https://
www.sec.gov/comments/sr-cboebzx-2020-053/
srcboebzx2020053.htm.
4 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(2).
5 See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 89545,
85 FR 51124 (August 19, 2020). The Commission
designated October 8, 2020, as the date by which
the Commission shall approve or disapprove, or
institute proceedings to determine whether to
disapprove, the proposed rule change.
1 15
E:\FR\FM\11MRN1.SGM
11MRN1
Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 46 (Thursday, March 11, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13918-13922]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-05023]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
[Release No. 34-91260; File No. SR-CboeEDGX-2021-013]
Self-Regulatory Organizations; Cboe EDGX Exchange, Inc.; Notice
of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change To
Amend the Fee Schedule
March 5, 2021.
Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
(the
[[Page 13919]]
``Act''),\1\ and Rule 19b-4 thereunder,\2\ notice is hereby given that
on March 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 applicable to Members and non-
Members of the Exchange pursuant to EDGX Rules 15.1(a) and (c). Changes
to the fee schedule pursuant to this proposal are effective upon
filing. 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.
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 in connection with
its standard removing liquidity fees and Add/Remove Volume Tiers. The
Exchange proposes to implement the proposed change to its fee schedule
on March 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 19% 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
$0.00160 per share for orders that add liquidity and assesses a fee of
$0.00270 per share for orders that remove liquidity. For orders priced
below $1.00, the Exchange provides 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. The Exchange believes
that the ever-shifting market share among the exchanges from month to
month demonstrates that market participants can shift order flow, or
discontinue or reduce use of certain categories of products, in
response to fee changes. Accordingly, competitive forces constrain the
Exchange's transaction fees, and market participants can readily trade
on competing venues if they deem pricing levels at those other venues
to be more favorable.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ See Cboe Global Markets, U.S. Equities Market Volume
Summary, Month-to-Date (February 24, 2021), available at https://markets.cboe.com/us/equities/market_statistics/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Standard Removing Liquidity Fee
As stated above, the Exchange currently provides a standard fee of
$0.00270 per share for liquidity removing orders (i.e., those yielding
fee codes N,\4\ W,\5\ 6,\6\ BB,\7\ and ZR \8\) in securities priced at
or above $1.00. Orders in securities priced below $1.00 that remove
liquidity are assessed a fee of 0.30% of the dollar value. The Exchange
now proposes to increase the current standard fee of $0.00270 per share
to $0.00280 per share for orders that remove liquidity for securities
priced at or above $1.00. Orders that remove liquidity in securities
priced below $1.00 would continue to be assessed a fee of 0.30% of the
dollar value. Although this proposed standard fee for liquidity
removing orders is higher than the current base rate for such orders,
the proposed fee is in line with similar fees for liquidity removing
orders in place on other exchanges.\9\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ Appended to orders that remove liquidity from EDGX (Tape C)
and charges a fee of $0.00270 per share.
\5\ Appended to orders that remove liquidity from EDGX (Tape A)
and charges a fee of $0.00270 per share.
\6\ Appended to orders that remove liquidity from EDGX, pre and
post market (All Tapes) and charges a fee of $0.00270 per share.
\7\ Appended to orders that remove liquidity from EDGX (Tape B)
and charges a fee of $0.00270 per share.
\8\ Appended to retail orders that remove liquidity from EDGX
and charges a fee of $0.00270 per share.
\9\ E.g., the Nasdaq base fee rate of $0.0030 for liquidity
removing orders in securities priced at or above $1.00. See https://www.nasdaqtrader.com/Trader.aspx?id=PriceListTrading2.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Growth Tier 2 & Non-Displayed Step-Up Tier
In addition to the standard fees and rebates, 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'' \10\,
``V'' \11\, ``Y'' \12\,
[[Page 13920]]
``3'' \13\ and ``4'' \14\, 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 $0.0030 on qualifying orders
(i.e., B, V, Y, 3 and 4) where a Member has (1) a Retail Step-Up Add
TCV \15\ (i.e., yielding fee code ZA) \16\ from January 2021 that is
greater than or equal to 0.10%; (2) an add ADV \17\ 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 ADV. The Exchange now proposes to amend the third
criteria of the Growth Tier 2 to provide for Members who remove an ADV
of greater than or equal to 0.75% of the ADV, rather than 0.80%.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\10\ Appended to orders that add liquidity to EDGX (Tape B) and
offers a rebate of $0.00160 per share.
\11\ Appended to orders that add liquidity to EDGX (Tape A) and
offers a rebate of $0.00160 per share.
\12\ Appended to orders that add liquidity to EDGX (Tape C) and
offers a rebate of $0.00160 per share.
\13\ Appended to orders that add liquidity to EDGX pre and post
market (Tape A or C) and offers a rebate of $0.00160 per share.
\14\ Appended to orders that add liquidity to EDGX pre and post
market (Tape B) and offers a rebate of $0.00160 per share.
\15\ ``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.
\16\ Appended to Retail Orders that add liquidity to EDGX and
offers a rebate of $0.0032 per share.
\17\ ``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 the Non-Displayed Step-
Up Tier, which offers enhanced rebates on Members' orders yielding fee
codes ``DM'' \18\, ``HA'' \19\, ``MM'' \20\ and ``RP'' \21\ where a
Member reaches certain required volume-based criteria offered in each
tier. The Non-Displayed Step-Up Tier provides an enhanced rebate of
$0.0025 where a Member has: (1) 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. The Exchange now proposed to amend the third criteria
of the Non-Displayed Step-Up Tier to provide for Members who remove an
ADV of greater than or equal to 0.75% of the ADV, rather than 0.80%.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\18\ Appended to orders that add liquidity using MidPoint
Discretionary order within discretionary range and are provided a
rebate of $0.00100.
\19\ Appended to non-displayed orders that add liquidity and are
provided a rebate of $0.00100.
\20\ Appended to non-displayed orders that add liquidity using
Mid-Point Peg and are provided a rebate of $0.00100.
\21\ Appended to non-displayed orders that add liquidity using
Supplemental Peg and are provided a rebate of $0.00100.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Both the Growth Tier 2 and the Non-Displayed Step-Up Tier, as
amended, offer the same three-pronged criteria and 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 and
Non-Displayed Step-Up Tier. Particularly, the proposed amendment to the
third prong of the criteria is designed to encourage a Member to
increase liquidity removing volume.
Remove Volume Tier
Pursuant to footnote 1 of the Fee Schedule, the Exchange offers a
Remove Volume Tier (Tier 1) that provides Members an opportunity to
receive a reduced fee of $0.0026 for liquidity removing orders that
yield fee codes BB, N, and W. To qualify for the current Remove Volume
Tier, a Member must have an ADAV \22\ of greater than or equal to 0.25%
of the TCV with displayed orders that yield fee codes B, V or Y. The
Exchange now proposes to incrementally increase the reduced fee to
$0.0027 based on the proposed standard fee change. Additionally, the
Exchange proposes to offer an alternative qualification for the Remove
Volume Tier for a Member that adds Retail Order ADV (i.e., yielding fee
code ZA) of greater than or equal to 0.45% of the TCV. The proposal is
designed to encourage a Member to increase Retail Order liquidity
removing volume.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\22\ ADAV means average daily volume calculated as the number of
shares added per day. ADAV is calculated on a monthly basis.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Statutory Basis
The Exchange believes that the proposed rule change is consistent
with Section 6 of the Act,\23\ in general, and furthers the
requirements of Section 6(b)(4),\24\ in particular, as it is designed
to provide for the equitable allocation of reasonable dues, fees and
other charges among its facilities and does not unfairly discriminate
between customers, issuers, brokers or dealers. 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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\23\ 15 U.S.C. 78f.
\24\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(4).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In particular, the Exchange believes that the proposed amendment to
increase the standard removing liquidity fee is reasonable, equitable
and non-discriminatory because the proposed change represents a modest
fee increase and such fee is equally applicable to all liquidity
removing orders and thus is also equally applicable to all Members of
the Exchange. 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 relativel [sic] small percentage of the overall market.
Moreover, the proposed standard fee for liquidity removing orders is
still lower than that offered at other exchanges for similar
transactions.\25\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\25\ See supra note 9.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Exchange believes the proposed changes to Growth Tier 2, the
Non-Displayed Step-Up Tier, and the Remove Volume Tier are reasonable
because they either amend an existing opportunity or add an alternative
opportunity for Members to receive an enhanced rebate or reduced fee on
qualifying orders by means of overall order flow, including liquidity
adding and removing orders. The Exchange notes that relative volume-
based incentives and discounts have been widely adopted by
exchanges,\26\ including the Exchange,\27\ 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. 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
[[Page 13921]]
competing pricing schedules, moreover, are presently comparable to
those that the Exchange provides, including the pricing of comparable
tiers.\28\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\26\ See e.g., Nasdaq PSX Price List, 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.
\27\ See generally, Cboe EDGX U.S. Equities Exchange Fee
Schedule, Footnote 1, Add Volume Tiers.
\28\ See supra note 3.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Moreover, the Exchange believes the 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 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 tier 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 third criteria in
Growth Tier 2 and the Non-Displayed Step-Up Tier is reasonably designed
to ease the current criteria and therefore incentivize Members to
achieve the enhanced rebate. Second, the Exchange believes that the
increase to the Remove Volume Tier is reasonable as the fee increase is
incremental to the proposed change to the standard liquidity removing
fee. Further, the proposed additional criteria option to achieve the
Remove Volume Tier in is reasonable as it would incentivize Members to
meet certain liquidity adding Retail Order thresholds.
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 the Growth Tier 2,
Non-Displayed Step-Up Tier, and Remove Volume Tier, as amended. All
Members will have the opportunity to meet the three tiers' criteria and
will receive the proposed corresponding enhanced rebates or reduced fee
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 amended criteria in Growth Tier 2 and the
Non-Displayed Step-Up Tier, and at least six Members will be able to
compete for and reach the amended criteria in the Remove Volume 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.
B. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement on Burden on Competition
The Exchange does not believe that the proposed rule change will
impose any burden on competition that is not necessary or appropriate
in furtherance of the purposes of the Act. The Exchange believes the
proposed rule change does not impose any burden on intra-market
competition that is not necessary or appropriate in furtherance of the
purposes of the Act. 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 intermarket competition that is not necessary or appropriate
in furtherance of the purpose 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 19% of the
market share.\29\ 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.'' \30\ 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'. . . .''.\31\
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.
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\29\ See supra 3.
\30\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 51808 (June 9,
2005), 70 FR 37496, 37499 (June 29, 2005).
\31\ See NetCoalition v. SEC, 615 F.3d 525, 539 (D.C. Cir. 2010)
(quoting Securities Exchange Act Release No. 59039 (December 2,
2008), 73 FR 74770, 74782-83 (December 9, 2008) (SR-NYSEArca-2006-
21)).
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[[Page 13922]]
The Exchange believes the proposed rule changes do 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 to the standard removing liquidity fee applies to all liquidity
removing orders equally, and thus applies to all Members equally.
Similarly, the proposed tier changes apply to all Members equally in
that all Members are eligible for the amended Growth Tier 3, Non-
Displayed Step-Up Tier, and Remove Volume Tier, and 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
changes to the tier criteria are designed to attract additional overall
order flow to the Exchange. The Exchange believes that the amended 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.
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 \32\ and paragraph (f) of Rule 19b-4 \33\
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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\32\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A).
\33\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4(f).
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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-2021-013 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-2021-013. 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-2021-013 and should be
submitted on or before April 1, 2021.
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\34\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(12).
For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets,
pursuant to delegated authority.\34\
J. Matthew DeLesDernier,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2021-05023 Filed 3-10-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P