Self-Regulatory Organizations; NYSE Arca, Inc.; Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed Rule Change To Amend Rule 7.10-E, 58147-58153 [2022-20595]
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Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 184 / Friday, September 23, 2022 / Notices
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–NYSE–2022–44 and should
be submitted on or before October 14,
2022.
is available on the Exchange’s website at
www.nyse.com, at the principal office of
the Exchange, and at the Commission’s
Public Reference Room.
For the Commission, by the Division of
Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated
authority.38
J. Matthew DeLesDernier,
Deputy Secretary.
A. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
Statement of the Purpose of, and the
Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule
Change
[FR Doc. 2022–20592 Filed 9–22–22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011–01–P
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
[Release No. 34–95827; File No. SR–
NYSEARCA–2022–62]
Self-Regulatory Organizations; NYSE
Arca, Inc.; Notice of Filing and
Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed
Rule Change To Amend Rule 7.10–E
September 19, 2022
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Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) 1 of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934
(‘‘Act’’) 2 and Rule 19b–4 thereunder,3
notice is hereby given that, on
September 16, 2022, NYSE Arca, Inc.
(‘‘NYSE Arca’’ or the ‘‘Exchange’’) filed
with the Securities and Exchange
Commission (the ‘‘Commission’’) the
proposed rule change as described in
Items I and II below, which Items have
been prepared by the self-regulatory
organization. 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
The Exchange proposes to amend
Rule 7.10E (Clearly Erroneous
Executions). The proposed rule change
17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12).
15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).
2 15 U.S.C. 78a.
3 17 CFR 240.19b–4.
38
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II. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
Statement of the Purpose of, and
Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule
Change
In its filing with the Commission, the
self-regulatory organization 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 those 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 parts of such
statements.
1. Purpose
The purpose of the proposed rule
change is to amend Rule 7.10–E (Clearly
Erroneous Executions). Specifically, the
Exchange proposes to: (1) make the
current clearly erroneous pilot program
permanent; and (2) limit the
circumstances where clearly erroneous
review would continue to be available
during the Core Trading Session,4 when
the LULD Plan to Address Extraordinary
Market Volatility (the ‘‘LULD Plan’’) 5
already provides similar protections for
trades occurring at prices that may be
deemed erroneous. The Exchange
believes that these changes are
appropriate as the LULD Plan has been
approved by the Commission on a
permanent basis,6 and in light of
amendments to the LULD Plan,
including changes to the applicable
Price Bands 7 around the open and close
of trading.
This proposed rule change is
substantively identical to the rule
change recently proposed by Cboe BZX,
which the Commission approved on
September 1, 2022.8
4 The term ‘‘Core Trading Session’’ is defined in
Rule 7.34–E(a)(2).
5 See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 67091
(May 31, 2012), 77 FR 33498 (June 6, 2012).
6 See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 84843
(December 18, 2018), 83 FR 66464 (December 26,
2018) (‘‘Notice’’); 85623 (April 11, 2019), 84 FR
16086 (April 17, 2019) (File No. 4–631)
(‘‘Amendment 18’’).
7 ‘‘Price Bands’’ refers to the term provided in
Section V of the LULD Plan.
8 See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 95658
(September 1, 2022) (SR–CboeBZX–2022–037).
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58147
Proposal To Make the Clearly Erroneous
Pilot Permanent
On September 10, 2010, the
Commission approved, on a pilot basis,
changes to Rule 7.10–E that, among
other things: (i) provided for uniform
treatment of clearly erroneous execution
reviews in multi-stock events involving
twenty or more securities; and (ii)
reduced the ability of the Exchange to
deviate from the objective standards set
forth in the rule.9 In 2013, the Exchange
adopted a provision designed to address
the operation of the Plan.10 Finally, in
2014, the Exchange adopted two
additional provisions providing that: (i)
a series of transactions in a particular
security on one or more trading days
may be viewed as one event if all such
transactions were effected based on the
same fundamentally incorrect or grossly
misinterpreted issuance information
resulting in a severe valuation error for
all such transactions; and (ii) in the
event of any disruption or malfunction
in the operation of the electronic
communications and trading facilities of
an Exchange, another SRO, or
responsible single plan processor in
connection with the transmittal or
receipt of a trading halt, an Officer,
acting on his or her own motion, shall
nullify any transaction that occurs after
a trading halt has been declared by the
primary listing market for a security and
before such trading halt has officially
ended according to the primary listing
market.11 These changes are currently
scheduled to operate for a pilot period
that would end at the close of business
on October 20, 2022.12
When it originally approved the
clearly erroneous pilot, the Commission
explained that the changes were ‘‘being
implemented on a pilot basis so that the
Commission and the Exchanges can
monitor the effects of the pilot on the
markets and investors, and consider
appropriate adjustments, as
necessary.’’ 13 In the 12 years since that
time, the Exchange and other national
securities exchanges have gained
considerable experience in the
operation of the rule, as amended on a
pilot basis. Based on that experience,
9 See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 62886
(Sept. 10, 2010), 75 FR 56613 (Sept. 16, 2010) (SR–
NYSEArca–2010–58).
10 See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 68809
(Feb. 1, 2013), 78 FR 9081 (Feb. 7, 2013) (SR–
NYSEArca–2013–12).
11 See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 72434
(June 19, 2014), 79 FR 36110 (June 25, 2014) (SR–
NYSEArca–2014–48).
12 See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 95303
(July 18, 2022), 87 FR 43911 (July 22, 2022) (SR–
NYSEArca–2022–42).
13 See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 62886
(Sept. 10, 2010), 75 FR 56613 (Sept. 16, 2010) (SR–
NYSEArca–2010–58).
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the Exchange believes that the program
should be allowed to continue on a
permanent basis so that equities market
participants and investors can benefit
from the increased certainty provided
by the amended rule.
The clearly erroneous pilot was
implemented following a severe
disruption in the U.S. equities markets
on May 6, 2010 (‘‘Flash Crash’’) to
‘‘provide greater transparency and
certainty to the process of breaking
trades.’’ 14 Largely, the pilot reduced the
discretion of the Exchange, other
national securities exchanges, and
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority
(‘‘FINRA’’) to deviate from the objective
standards in their respective rules when
dealing with potentially erroneous
transactions. The pilot has thus helped
afford greater certainty to ETP Holders
and investors about when trades will be
deemed erroneous pursuant to selfregulatory organization (‘‘SRO’’) rules
and has provided a more transparent
process for conducting such reviews.
The Exchange proposes to make the
current pilot permanent so that market
participants can continue to benefit
from the increased certainty afforded by
the current rule.
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1
Amendments to the Clearly Erroneous
Rules
When the Participants to the LULD
Plan filed to introduce the Limit UpLimit Down (‘‘LULD’’) mechanism, itself
a response to the Flash Crash, a handful
of commenters noted the potential
discordance between the clearly
erroneous rules and the Price Bands
used to limit the price at which trades
would be permitted to be executed
pursuant to the LULD Plan. For
example, two commenters requested
that the clearly erroneous rules be
amended so the presumption would be
that trades executed within the Price
Bands would not be not subject to
review.15 While the Participants
acknowledged that the potential to
prevent clearly erroneous executions
would be a ‘‘key benefit’’ of the LULD
Plan, the Participants decided not to
amend the clearly erroneous rules at
that time.16 In the years since, industry
feedback has continued to reflect a
desire to eliminate the discordance
between the LULD mechanism and the
clearly erroneous rules so that market
participants would have more certainty
that trades executed with the Price
Bands would stand. For example, the
Id.
See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 67091
(May 31, 2012), 77 FR 33498 (June 6, 2012) (File
No. 4–631) (n. 33505).
16 Id.
14
15
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Equity Market Structure Advisory
Committee (‘‘EMSAC’’) Market Quality
Subcommittee included in its April 19,
2016 status report a preliminary
recommendation that clearly erroneous
rules be amended to conform to the
Price Bands—i.e., ‘‘any trade that takes
place within the band would stand and
not be broken and trades outside the
LU/LD bands would be eligible for the
consideration of the Clearly Erroneous
rules.’’ 17
The Exchange believes that it is
important for there to be some
mechanism to ensure that investors’
orders are either not executed at clearly
erroneous prices or are subsequently
busted as needed to maintain a fair and
orderly market. At the same time, the
Exchange believes that the LULD Plan,
as amended, would provide sufficient
protection for trades executed during
the Core Trading Session. Indeed, the
LULD mechanism could be considered
to offer superior protection as it
prevents potentially erroneous trades
from being executed in the first
instance. After gaining experience with
the LULD Plan, the Exchange now
believes that it is appropriate to largely
eliminate clearly erroneous review
during Core Trading Hours when Price
Bands are in effect. Thus, as proposed,
trades executed within the Price Bands
would stand, barring one of a handful of
identified scenarios where such review
may still be necessary for the protection
of investors. The Exchange believes that
this change would be beneficial for the
U.S. equities markets as it would ensure
that trades executed within the Price
Bands are subject to clearly erroneous
review in only rare circumstances,
resulting in greater certainty for ETP
Holders and investors.
The current LULD mechanism for
addressing extraordinary market
volatility is available solely during the
Core Trading Session. Thus, trades
during the Exchange’s Early Trading
Session 18 and Late Trading Session 19
would not benefit from this protection
and could ultimately be executed at
prices that may be considered
erroneous. For this reason, the Exchange
proposes that transactions executed
during the Early and Late Trading
Sessions would continue to be
reviewable as clearly erroneous.
Continued availability of the clearly
17 See EMSAC Market Quality Subcommittee,
Recommendations for Rulemaking on Issues of
Market Quality (November 29, 2016), available at
https://www.sec.gov/spotlight/emsac/emsacrecommendations-rulemaking-market-quality.pdf.
18 The term ‘‘Early Trading Session’’ is defined
in Rule 7.34E(a)(1).
19 The term ‘‘Late Trading Session’’ is defined in
Rule 7.34E(a)(3).
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erroneous rule during the Early and Late
Trading Sessions would therefore
ensure that investors have appropriate
recourse when erroneous trades are
executed outside of the hours where
similar protection can be provided by
the LULD Plan. Further, the proposal is
designed to eliminate the potential
discordance between clearly erroneous
review and LULD Price Bands, which
does not exist outside of the Core
Trading Session because the LULD Plan
is not in effect. Thus, the Exchange
believes that it is appropriate to
continue to allow transactions to be
eligible for clearly erroneous review if
executed outside of the Core Trading
Session.
On the other hand, there would be
much more limited potential to request
that a transaction be reviewed as
potentially erroneous during the Core
Trading Session. With the introduction
of the LULD mechanism in 2013, clearly
erroneous trades are largely prevented
by the requirement that trades be
executed within the Price Bands. In
addition, in 2019, Amendment 18 to the
LULD Plan eliminated double-wide
Price Bands: (1) at the Open, and (2) at
the Close for Tier 2 NMS Stocks 2 with
a Reference Price above $3.00.20 Due to
these changes, the Exchange believes
that the Price Bands would provide
sufficient protection to investor orders
such that clearly erroneous review
would no longer be necessary during the
Core Trading Session. As the
Participants to the LULD Plan explained
in Amendment 18: ‘‘Broadly, the Limit
Up-Limit Down mechanism prevents
trades from happening at prices where
one party to the trade would be
considered ‘aggrieved,’ and thus could
be viewed as an appropriate mechanism
to supplant clearly erroneous rules.’’
While the Participants also expressed
concern that the Price Bands might be
too wide to afford meaningful protection
around the open and close of trading,
amendments to the LULD Plan adopted
in Amendment 18 narrowed Price
Bands at these times in a manner that
the Exchange believes is sufficient to
ensure that investors’ orders would be
appropriately protected in the absence
of clearly erroneous review. The
Exchange therefore believes that it is
appropriate to rely on the LULD
mechanism as the primary means of
preventing clearly erroneous trades
during the Core Trading Session.
At the same time, the Exchange is
cognizant that there may be limited
circumstances where clearly erroneous
review may continue to be appropriate,
even during the Core Trading Session.
20
See Amendment 18, supra note 6.
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Thus, the Exchange proposes to amend
its clearly erroneous rules to enumerate
the specific circumstances where such
review would remain available during
the course of the Core Trading Session,
as follows. All transactions that fall
outside of these specific enumerated
exceptions would be ineligible for
clearly erroneous review.
First, pursuant to proposed paragraph
(c)(1)(A), a transaction executed during
the Core Trading Session would
continue to be eligible for clearly
erroneous review if the transaction is
not subject to the LULD Plan. In such
case, the Numerical Guidelines set forth
in paragraph (c)(2) will be applicable to
such NMS Stock. While the majority of
securities traded on the Exchange would
be subject to the LULD Plan, certain
equity securities, such as rights and
warrants, are explicitly excluded from
the provisions of the LULD Plan and
would therefore be eligible for clearly
erroneous review instead.21 Similarly,
there are instances, such as the opening
auction on the primary listing market,22
where transactions are not ordinarily
subject to the LULD Plan, or
circumstances where a transaction that
ordinarily would have been subject to
the LULD Plan is not—due, for example,
to some issue with processing the Price
Bands. These transactions would
continue to be eligible for clearly
erroneous review, effectively ensuring
that such review remains available as a
backstop when the LULD Plan would
not prevent executions from occurring
at erroneous prices in the first instance.
Second, investors would also
continue to be able to request review of
transactions that resulted from certain
systems issues pursuant to proposed
paragraph (c)(1)(B). This limited
exception would help to ensure that
trades that should not have been
executed would continue to be subject
to clearly erroneous review.
Specifically, as proposed, transactions
executed during the Core Trading
Session would be eligible for clearly
erroneous review pursuant to proposed
paragraph (c)(1)(B) if the transaction is
the result of an Exchange technology or
systems issue that results in the
transaction occurring outside of the
applicable LULD Price Bands pursuant
to paragraph (g). A transaction subject to
review pursuant to this paragraph shall
be found to be clearly erroneous if the
price of the transaction to buy (sell) that
is the subject of the complaint is greater
than (less than) the Reference Price,
described in paragraph (d) of this Rule,
by an amount that equals or exceeds the
applicable Percentage Parameter defined
in Appendix A to the LULD Plan
(‘‘Percentage Parameters’’).
Third, the Exchange proposes to
narrowly allow for the review of
transactions during the Core Trading
Session when the Reference Price,
described in proposed paragraph (d), is
determined to be erroneous by an
Officer of the Exchange. Specifically, a
transaction executed during the Core
Trading Session would be eligible for
clearly erroneous review pursuant to
proposed paragraph (c)(1)(C) if the
transaction involved, in the case of (1)
a corporate action or new issue, or (2)
a security that enters a Trading Pause
pursuant to the LULD Plan and resumes
trading without an auction,23 a
Reference Price that is determined to be
erroneous by an Officer of the Exchange
because it clearly deviated from the
theoretical value of the security. In such
circumstances, the Exchange may use a
different Reference Price pursuant to
proposed paragraph (d)(2) of this Rule.
A transaction subject to review pursuant
to this paragraph shall be found to be
clearly erroneous if the price of the
transaction to buy (sell) that is the
subject of the complaint is greater than
(less than) the new Reference Price,
described in paragraph (d)(2), by an
amount that equals or exceeds the
applicable Numerical Guidelines or
Percentage Parameters, as applicable
depending on whether the security is
subject to the LULD Plan. Specifically,
the Percentage Parameters would apply
to all transactions except those in an
NMS Stock that is not subject to the
LULD Plan, as described in paragraph
(c)(1)(A).
In the context of a corporate action or
a new issue, there may be instances
where the security’s Reference Price is
later determined by the Exchange to be
erroneous (e.g., because of a bad first
trade for a new issue), and subsequent
LULD Price Bands are calculated from
that incorrect Reference Price. In
determining whether the Reference
Price is erroneous in such instances, the
Exchange would generally look to see if
such Reference Price clearly deviated
from the theoretical value of the
security. In such cases, the Exchange
would consider a number of factors to
determine a new Reference Price that is
based on the theoretical value of the
security, including but not limited to,
See Appendix A of the LULD Plan.
22 The initial Reference Price used to calculate
Price Bands is typically set by the Opening Price
on the primary listing market. See Section V(B) of
the LULD Plan.
The Exchange notes that the ‘‘resumption of
trading without an auction’’ provision of the
proposed rule text applies only to securities that
enter a Trading Pause pursuant to LULD and does
not apply to a corporate action or new issue.
21
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58149
the offering price of the new issue, the
ratio of the stock split applied to the
prior day’s closing price, the theoretical
price derived from the numerical terms
of the corporate action transaction such
as the exchange ratio and spin-off terms,
and the prior day’s closing price on the
OTC market for an OTC up-listing.24 In
the foregoing instances, the theoretical
value of the security would be used as
the new Reference Price when applying
the Percentage Parameters under the
LULD Plan (or Numerical Guidelines if
the transaction is in an NMS Stock that
is not subject to the LULD Plan) to
determine whether executions would be
cancelled as clearly erroneous.
The following examples illustrate the
proposed application of the rule in the
context of a corporate action or new
issue:
Example 1:
1. ABCD is subject to a corporate
action, 1 for 10 reverse split, and the
previous day close was $5, but the new
theoretical price based on the terms of
the corporate action is $50.
2. The security opens at $5, with
LULD bands at $4.50 × $5.50
3. The bands will be calculated
correctly but the security is trading at an
erroneous price based on the valuation
of the remaining outstanding shares
4. The theoretical price of $50 would
be used as the new Reference Price
when applying LULD bands to
determine if executions would be
cancelled as clearly erroneous
Example 2:
1. ABCD is subject to a corporate
action, the company is doing a spin off
where a new issue will be listed, BCDE.
ABCD trades at $50, and the spinoff
company is worth 1⁄5 of ABCD
2. BCDE opens at $50 in the belief it
is the same company as ABCD
3. The theoretical values of the two
companies are ABCD $40 and BCDE $10
4. BCDE would be deemed to have
had an incorrect Reference Price and the
theoretical value of $10 would be used
as the new Reference Price when
applying the LULD Bands to determine
if executions would be cancelled as
clearly erroneous.
Example 3:
1. ABCD is an uplift from the OTC
market, the prior days close on the OTC
market was $20.
2. ABCD opens trading on the new
listing exchange at $0.20 due to an
erroneous order entry.
24 Using transaction data reported to the FINRA
OTC Reporting Facility, FINRA disseminates via the
Trade Data Dissemination Service a final closing
report for OTC equity securities for each business
day that includes, among other things, each
security’s closing last sale price.
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3. The new Reference Price to
determine clearly erroneous executions
would be $20, the theoretical value of
the stock from where it was last traded.
In the context of the rare situation in
which a security that enters a LULD
Trading Pause and resumes trading
without an auction (i.e., reopens with
quotations), the LULD Plan requires that
the new Reference Price in this instance
be established by using the mid-point of
the best bid and offer (‘‘BBO’’) on the
primary listing exchange at the
reopening time.25 This can result in a
Reference Price and subsequent LULD
Price Band calculation that is
significantly away from the security’s
last traded or more relevant price,
especially in less liquid names. In such
rare instances, the Exchange is
proposing to use a different Reference
Price that is based on the prior LULD
Band that triggered the Trading Pause,
rather than the midpoint of the BBO.
The following example illustrates the
proposed application of the rule in the
context of a security that reopens
without an auction:
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Example 4:
1. ABCD stock is trading at $20, with
LULD Bands at $18 × $22.
2. An incoming buy order causes the
stock to enter a Limit State Trading
Pause and then a Trading Pause at $22.
3. During the Trading Pause, the buy
order causing the Trading Pause is
cancelled.
4. At the end of the 5-minute halt,
there is no crossed interest for an
auction to occur, thus trading would
resume on a quote.
5. Upon resumption, a quote that was
available prior to the Trading Pause (e.g.
a quote was resting on the book prior to
the Trading Pause), is widely set at $10
× $90.
6. The Reference Price upon
resumption is $50 (mid-point of BBO).
7. The SIP will use this Reference
Price and publish LULD Bands of $45 ×
$55 (i.e., far away from BBO prior to the
halt).
8. The bands will be calculated
correctly, but the $50 Reference Price is
subsequently determined to be incorrect
as the price clearly deviated from where
it previously traded prior to the Trading
Pause.
9. The new Reference Price would be
$22 (i.e., the last effective Price Band
that was in a limit state before the
Trading Pause), and the LULD Bands
would be applied to determine if the
executions should be cancelled as
clearly erroneous.
25
See LULD Plan, Section I(U) and V(C)(1).
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In all of the foregoing situations,
investors would be left with no remedy
to request clearly erroneous review
without the proposed carveouts in
paragraph (c)(1)(C) because the trades
occurred within the LULD Price Bands
(albeit LULD Price Bands that were
calculated from an erroneous Reference
Price). The Exchange believes that
removing the current ability for the
Exchange to review in these narrow
circumstances would lessen investor
protections.
Numerical Guidelines
Currently, paragraph (c)(1) defines the
Numerical Guidelines that are used to
determine if a transaction is deemed
clearly erroneous during the Core
Trading Session and during the Early
and Late Trading Sessions. With respect
to the Core Trading Session, trades are
generally deemed clearly erroneous if
the execution price differs from the
Reference Price (i.e., last sale) by 10%
if the Reference Price is greater than
$0.00 up to and including $25.00; 5% if
the Reference Price is greater than
$25.00 up to and including $50.00; and
3% if the Reference Price is greater than
$50.00. Wider parameters are also used
for reviews for Multi-Stock Events, as
described in paragraph (c)(2). With
respect to transactions in Leveraged
ETF/ETN securities executed during the
Core Trading Session or Early or Late
Trading Session, trades are deemed
clearly erroneous if the execution price
exceeds the Core Trading Session
Numerical Guidelines multiplied by the
leverage multiplier.
The Exchange proposes to amend the
way that the Numerical Guidelines are
calculated during the Core Trading
Session in the handful of instances
where clearly erroneous review would
continue to be available. Specifically,
the Exchange would base these
Numerical Guidelines, as applied to the
circumstances described in paragraph
(c)(1)(A), on the Percentage Parameters
used to calculate Price Bands, as set
forth in Appendix A to the LULD Plan.
Without this change, a transaction that
would otherwise stand if Price Bands
were properly applied to the transaction
may end up being subject to review and
deemed clearly erroneous solely due to
the fact that the Price Bands were not
available due to a systems or other
issue. The Exchange believes that it
makes more sense to instead base the
Price Bands on the same parameters as
would otherwise determine whether the
trade would have been allowed to
execute within the Price Bands. The
Exchange also proposes to modify the
Numerical Guidelines applicable to
leveraged ETF/ETN securities during
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the Core Trading Session. As noted
above, the Numerical Guidelines will
only be applicable to transactions
eligible for review pursuant paragraph
(c)(1)(A) (i.e., to NMS Stocks that are not
subject to the LULD Plan). As leveraged
ETF/ETN securities are subject to LULD
and thus the Percentage Parameters will
be applicable during the Core Trading
Session, the Exchange proposes to
eliminate the Numerical Guidelines for
leveraged ETF/ETN securities traded
during the Core Trading Session.
However, as no Price Bands are
available outside of the Core Trading
Session, the Exchange proposes to keep
the existing Numerical Guidelines in
place for transactions in leveraged ETF/
ETN securities that occur during the
Early and Late Trading Sessions.
The Exchange also proposes to move
existing paragraphs (c)(2), (c)(3), and (d)
to proposed paragraph (c)(2)(B),
(c)(2)(C), and (C)(2)(D), respectively, as
Multi-Stock Events, Additional Factors,
and Outlier Transactions will only be
subject to review if those NMS Stocks
are not subject to the LULD Plan or
occur during the Early or Late Trading
Session. Proposed paragraph (c)(2)(B) is
substantially similar to existing
paragraph (c)(2) except for a change in
rule reference to paragraph (c)(1) has
been updated to paragraph (c)(1)(A).
Further, given the proposal to move
existing paragraph (c)(2) to paragraph
(c)(2)(B), the Exchange also proposes to
amend applicable rule references
throughout paragraph (c)(2)(A). Finally,
the Exchange proposes to update
applicable rule references in paragraph
(c)(2)(D) based on the above-described
structural changes to the Rule.
Reference Price
As proposed, the Reference Price used
would continue to be based on last sale
and would be memorialized in proposed
paragraph (d). Continuing to use the last
sale as the Reference Price is necessary
for operational efficiency as it may not
be possible to perform a timely clearly
erroneous review if doing so required
computing the arithmetic mean price of
eligible reported transactions over the
past five minutes, as contemplated by
the LULD Plan. While this means that
there would still be some differences
between the Price Bands and the clearly
erroneous parameters, the Exchange
believes that this difference is
reasonable in light of the need to ensure
timely review if clearly erroneous rules
are invoked. The Exchange also
proposes to allow for an alternate
Reference Price to be used as prescribed
in proposed paragraphs (d)(1), (2), and
(3). Specifically, the Reference Price
may be a value other than the
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consolidated last sale immediately prior
to the execution(s) under review (1) in
the case of Multi-Stock Events involving
twenty or more securities, as described
in paragraph (c)(2)(B) above, (2) in the
case of an erroneous Reference Price, as
described in paragraph (c)(1)(C) above,26
or (3) in other circumstances, such as,
for example, relevant news impacting a
security or securities, periods of extreme
market volatility, sustained illiquidity,
or widespread system issues, where use
of a different Reference Price is
necessary for the maintenance of a fair
and orderly market and the protection of
investors and the public interest,
provided that such circumstances
occurred during Early or Late Trading
Session or are eligible for review
pursuant to paragraph (c)(1)(A).
Appeals
As described more fully below, the
Exchange proposes to eliminate
paragraph (f), System Disruption or
Malfunction. Accordingly, the Exchange
proposes to remove from paragraph
(e)(2), Appeals, each reference to
paragraph (f), and include language
referencing proposed paragraph (g),
Transactions Occurring Outside of the
LULD Bands.
System Disruption or Malfunction
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To conform with the structural
changes descried above, the Exchange
now proposes to remove paragraph (f),
System Disruption or Malfunction, and
proposes new paragraph (c)(1)(B).
Specifically, as described in proposed
paragraph (c)(1)(B), transactions
occurring during the Core Trading
Session that are executed outside of the
LULD Price Bands due to an Exchange
technology or system issue may be
subject to clearly erroneous review
pursuant to proposed paragraph (g).
Proposed paragraph (c)(1)(B) further
provides that a transaction subject to
review pursuant to this paragraph shall
be found to be clearly erroneous if the
price of the transaction to buy (sell) that
is the subject of the complaint is greater
than (less than) the Reference Price,
described in paragraph (d), by an
amount that equals or exceeds the
26 As discussed above, in the case of (c)(1)(C)(1),
the Exchange would consider a number of factors
to determine a new Reference Price that is based on
the theoretical value of the security, including but
not limited to, the offering price of the new issue,
the ratio of the stock split applied to the prior day’s
closing price, the theoretical price derived from the
numerical terms of the corporate action transaction
such as the exchange ratio and spin-off terms, and
the prior day’s closing price on the OTC market for
an OTC up-listing. In the case of (c)(1)(C)(2), the
Reference Price will be the last effective Price Band
that was in a limit state before the Trading Pause.
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applicable Percentage Parameter defined
in Appendix A to the LULD Plan.
Trade Nullification for UTP Securities
That Are the Subject of Initial Public
Offerings
Current paragraph (h) of Rule 7.10
provides different procedures for
conducting clearly erroneous review in
initial public offering (‘‘IPO’’) securities
that are traded pursuant to unlisted
trading privileges (‘‘UTP’’) after the
initial opening of such IPO securities on
the listing market. Specifically, this
paragraph provides that a clearly
erroneous error may be deemed to have
occurred in the opening transaction of
the subject security if the execution
price of the opening transaction on the
Exchange is the lesser of $1.00 or 10%
away from the opening price on the
listing exchange or association. The
Exchange believes that this provision is
no longer necessary as opening
transactions on the Exchange following
an IPO are subject to Price Bands
pursuant to the LULD Plan. The
Exchange therefore proposes to
eliminate this provision in connection
with the broader changes to clearly
erroneous review during the Core
Trading Session.
Securities Subject to Limit Up-Limit
Down Plan
The Exchange proposes to renumber
paragraph (i) to paragraph (h) based on
the proposal to eliminate existing
paragraph (h), and to rename the
paragraph to provide for transactions
occurring outside of LULD Price Bands.
Given that proposed paragraph (c)(1)
defines the LULD Plan, the Exchange
also proposes to eliminate redundant
language from proposed paragraph (h).
Finally, the Exchange also proposes to
update references to the LULD Plan and
Price Bands so that they are uniform
throughout the Rule and to update rule
references throughout the paragraph to
conform to the structural changes to the
Rule described above.
Multi-Day Event and Trading Halts
The Exchange proposes to renumber
paragraphs (j) and (k) to paragraphs (h)
and (i), respectively, based on the
proposal to eliminate existing paragraph
(h). Additionally, the Exchange
proposes to modify the text of both
paragraphs to reference the Percentage
Parameters as well as the Numerical
Guidelines. Specifically, the existing
text of proposed paragraphs (h) and (i)
provides that any action taken in
connection with this paragraph will be
taken without regard to the Numerical
Guidelines set forth in this Rule. The
Exchange proposes to amend the rule
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Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
58151
text to provide that any action taken in
connection with this paragraph will be
taken without regard to the Percentage
Parameters or Numerical Guidelines set
forth in this Rule, with the Percentage
Parameters being applicable to an NMS
Stock subject to the LULD Plan and the
Numerical Guidelines being applicable
to an NMS Stock not subject to the
LULD Plan.
2. Statutory Basis
The Exchange believes the proposed
rule change is consistent with the
requirements of Section 6(b) of the
Act,27 in general, and Section 6(b)(5) of
the Act,28 in particular, in that it is
designed to remove impediments to and
perfect the mechanism of a free and
open market and a national market
system, to promote just and equitable
principles of trade, and, in general, to
protect investors and the public interest
and not to permit unfair discrimination
between customers, issuers, brokers, or
dealers.
As explained in the purpose section
of this proposed rule change, the current
pilot was implemented following the
Flash Crash to bring greater
transparency to the process for
conducting clearly erroneous reviews,
and to help assure that the review
process is based on clear, objective, and
consistent rules across the U.S. equities
markets. The Exchange believes that the
amended clearly erroneous rules have
been successful in that regard and have
thus furthered fair and orderly markets.
Specifically, the Exchange believes that
the pilot has successfully ensured that
such reviews are conducted based on
objective and consistent standards
across SROs and has therefore afforded
greater certainty to ETP Holders and
investors. The Exchange therefore
believes that making the current pilot a
permanent program is appropriate so
that equities market participants can
continue to reap the benefits of a clear,
objective, and transparent process for
conducting clearly erroneous reviews.
In addition, the Exchange understands
that the other U.S. equities exchanges
and FINRA will also file largely
identical proposals to make their
respective clearly erroneous pilots
permanent. The Exchange therefore
believes that the proposed rule change
would promote transparency and
uniformity across markets concerning
review of transactions as clearly
erroneous and would also help assure
consistent results in handling erroneous
trades across the U.S. equities markets,
thus furthering fair and orderly markets,
27
28
15 U.S.C. 78f(b).
15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5).
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the protection of investors, and the
public interest.
Similarly, the Exchange believes that
it is consistent with just and equitable
principles of trade to limit the
availability of clearly erroneous review
during the Core Trading Session. The
Plan was approved by the Commission
to operate on a permanent rather than
pilot basis. As a number of market
participants have noted, the LULD Plan
provides protections that ensure that
investors’ orders are not executed at
prices that may be considered clearly
erroneous. Further, amendments to the
LULD Plan approved in Amendment 18
serve to ensure that the Price Bands
established by the LULD Plan are
‘‘appropriately tailored to prevent trades
that are so far from current market
prices that they would be viewed as
having been executed in error.’’ 29 Thus,
the Exchange believes that clearly
erroneous review should only be
necessary in very limited circumstances
during the Core Trading Session.
Specifically, such review would only be
necessary in instances where a
transaction was not subject to the LULD
Plan, or was the result of some form of
systems issue, as detailed in the purpose
section of this proposed rule change.
Additionally, in narrow circumstances
where the transaction was subject to the
LULD Plan, a clearly erroneous review
would be available in the case of (1) a
corporate action or new issue or (2) a
security that enters a Trading Pause
pursuant to LULD and resumes trading
without an auction, where the Reference
Price is determined to be erroneous by
an Officer of the Exchange because it
clearly deviated from the theoretical
value of the security. Thus, eliminating
clearly erroneous review in all other
instances will serve to increase certainty
for ETP Holders and investors that
trades executed during the Core Trading
Session would typically stand and
would not be subject to review.
Given the fact that clearly erroneous
review would largely be limited to
transactions that were not subject to the
LULD Plan, the Exchange also believes
that it is necessary to change the
parameters used to determine whether a
trade is clearly erroneous. Specifically,
due to the different parameters currently
used for clearly erroneous review and
for determining Price Bands, it is
possible that a trade that would have
been permitted to execute within the
Price Bands would later be deemed
clearly erroneous, if, for example, a
systems issue prevented the
dissemination of the Price Bands. The
Exchange believes that this result is
29
See Amendment 18, supra note 6.
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17:04 Sep 22, 2022
Jkt 256001
contrary to the principle that trades
within the Price Bands should stand,
and has the potential to cause investor
confusion if trades that are properly
executed within the applicable
parameters described in the LULD Plan
are later deemed erroneous. By using
consistent parameters for clearly
erroneous reviews conducted during the
Core Trading Session and the
calculation of the Price Bands, the
Exchange believes that this change
would also serve to promote greater
certainty with regards to when trades
may be deemed erroneous.
The Exchange believes that it is
consistent with the protection of
investors and the public interest to
remove the current provision of the
clearly erroneous rule dealing with UTP
securities that are the subject of IPOs.
This provision applies specifically to
opening transactions on a non-listing
market following an IPO on the listing
market. As such, review under this
paragraph is limited to trades conducted
during the Core Trading Session. As
previously addressed, trades executed
during the Core Trading Session would
generally not be subject to clearly
erroneous review but would instead be
protected by the Price Bands. The
Exchange therefore no longer believes
that this paragraph is necessary, as all
trades subject to this provision today
would either be subject to the LULD
Plan, or, in the event of some systems
or other issue, would be subject to the
provisions that apply to transactions
that are not adequately protected by the
LULD Plan.
Finally, the proposed rule changes
make organizational updates to the
Exchange’s Clearly Erroneous Execution
Rule as well as minor updates and
corrections to the Rule to improve
readability and clarity.
B. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
Statement on Burden on Competition
The Exchange does not believe that
the proposed rule change would impose
any burden on competition that is not
necessary or appropriate in furtherance
of the purposes of the Act. The proposal
would ensure the continued,
uninterrupted operation of harmonized
clearly erroneous execution rules across
the U.S. equities markets while also
amending those rules to provide greater
certainty to ETP Holders and investors
that trades will stand if executed during
the Core Trading Session where the
LULD Plan provides adequate
protection against trading at erroneous
prices. The Exchange understands that
the other national securities exchanges
and FINRA will also file similar
proposals, the substance of which are
PO 00000
Frm 00099
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
identical to this proposal and to the
Cboe BZX proposal that the Commission
recently approved.30 Thus, the proposed
rule change will help to ensure
consistency across SROs without
implicating any competitive issues.
C. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
Statement on Comments on the
Proposed Rule Change Received From
Members, Participants, or Others
No written comments were solicited
or received with respect to the proposed
rule change.
III. Date of Effectiveness of the
Proposed Rule Change and Timing for
Commission Action
The Exchange has filed the proposed
rule change pursuant to Section
19(b)(3)(A)(iii) of the Act 31 and Rule
19b–4(f)(6) thereunder.32 Because the
proposed rule change does not: (i)
significantly affect the protection of
investors or the public interest; (ii)
impose any significant burden on
competition; and (iii) become operative
prior to 30 days from the date on which
it was filed, or such shorter time as the
Commission may designate, if
consistent with the protection of
investors and the public interest, the
proposed rule change has become
effective pursuant to Section 19(b)(3)(A)
of the Act and Rule 19b–4(f)(6)(iii)
thereunder.
A proposed rule change filed under
Rule 19b-4(f)(6) 33 normally does not
become operative prior to 30 days after
the date of the filing. However, Rule
19b-4(f)(6)(iii) 34 permits the
Commission to designate a shorter time
if such action is consistent with the
protection of investors and the public
interest. The Exchange has asked the
Commission to waive the 30-day
operative delay so that the proposed
rule change may become operative on
October 1, 2022. The Commission
believes that waiving the 30-day
operative delay is consistent with the
protection of investors and the public
interest, as it will allow the Exchange to
coordinate its implementation of the
revised clearly erroneous execution
rules with the other national securities
exchanges and FINRA, and will help
ensure consistency across the SROs.35
For this reason, the Commission hereby
waives the 30-day operative delay and
See supra note 8.
15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A)(iii).
32 17 CFR 240.19b-4(f)(6).
33 17 CFR 240.19b-4(f)(6).
34 17 CFR 240.19b-4(f)(6)(iii).
35 See SR-CboeBZX–2022–37 (July 8, 2022).
30
31
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designates the proposed rule change as
operative upon filing.36
At any time within 60 days of the
filing of such 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 shall institute proceedings
under Section 19(b)(2)(B) 37 of the Act 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:
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1
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 SR–
NYSEARCA–2022–62 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–NYSEARCA–2022–62. 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
36 For purposes only of waiving the 30-day
operative delay, the Commission has also
considered the proposed rule’s impact on
efficiency, competition, and capital formation. See
15 U.S.C. 78c(f).
37 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(2)(B).
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17:04 Sep 22, 2022
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58153
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–NYSEARCA–2022–62 and
should be submitted on or before
October 14, 2022.
the Exchange, and at the Commission’s
Public Reference Room.
For the Commission, by the Division of
Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated
authority.38
J. Matthew DeLesDernier,
Deputy Secretary.
A. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
Statement of the Purpose of, and the
Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule
Change
[FR Doc. 2022–20595 Filed 9–22–22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011–01–P
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
[Release No. 34–95825; File No. SR–
NYSECHX–2022–21]
Self-Regulatory Organizations; NYSE
Chicago, Inc.; Notice of Filing and
Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed
Rule Change To Amend Rule 7.10
September 19, 2022.
Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) 1 of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934
(‘‘Act’’) 2 and Rule 19b–4 thereunder,3
notice is hereby given that, on
September 16, 2022, the NYSE Chicago,
Inc. (‘‘NYSE Chicago’’ or the
‘‘Exchange’’) filed with the Securities
and Exchange Commission (the
‘‘Commission’’) the proposed rule
change as described in Items I and II
below, which Items have been prepared
by the self-regulatory organization. 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
The Exchange proposes to amend
Rule 7.10 (Clearly Erroneous
Executions). The proposed rule change
is available on the Exchange’s website at
www.nyse.com, at the principal office of
17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12).
U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).
2 15 U.S.C. 78a.
3 17 CFR 240.19b–4.
38
1 15
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Sfmt 4703
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
self-regulatory organization 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 those 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 parts of such
statements.
1. Purpose
The purpose of the proposed rule
change is to amend Rule 7.10 (Clearly
Erroneous Executions). Specifically, the
Exchange proposes to: (1) make the
current clearly erroneous pilot program
permanent; and (2) limit the
circumstances where clearly erroneous
review would continue to be available
during the Core Trading Session,4 when
the LULD Plan to Address Extraordinary
Market Volatility (the ‘‘LULD Plan’’) 5
already provides similar protections for
trades occurring at prices that may be
deemed erroneous. The Exchange
believes that these changes are
appropriate as the LULD Plan has been
approved by the Commission on a
permanent basis,6 and in light of
amendments to the LULD Plan,
including changes to the applicable
Price Bands 7 around the open and close
of trading.
This proposed rule change is
substantively identical to the rule
change recently proposed by Cboe BZX,
which the Commission approved on
September 1, 2022.8
Proposal To Make the Clearly Erroneous
Pilot Permanent
On September 10, 2010, the
Commission approved, on a pilot basis,
4 The term ‘‘Core Trading Session’’ is defined in
Rule 7.34(a)(2).
5 See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 67091
(May 31, 2012), 77 FR 33498 (June 6, 2012).
6 See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 84843
(December 18, 2018), 83 FR 66464 (December 26,
2018) (‘‘Notice’’); 85623 (April 11, 2019), 84 FR
16086 (April 17, 2019) (File No. 4–631)
(‘‘Amendment 18’’).
7 ‘‘Price Bands’’ refers to the term provided in
Section V of the LULD Plan.
8 See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 95658
(September 1, 2022) (SR–CboeBZX–2022–037).
E:\FR\FM\23SEN1.SGM
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Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 184 (Friday, September 23, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58147-58153]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-20595]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
[Release No. 34-95827; File No. SR-NYSEARCA-2022-62]
Self-Regulatory Organizations; NYSE Arca, Inc.; Notice of Filing
and Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed Rule Change To Amend Rule 7.10-
E
September 19, 2022
Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) \1\ of the Securities Exchange Act of
1934 (``Act'') \2\ and Rule 19b-4 thereunder,\3\ notice is hereby given
that, on September 16, 2022, NYSE Arca, Inc. (``NYSE Arca'' or the
``Exchange'') filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the
``Commission'') the proposed rule change as described in Items I and II
below, which Items have been prepared by the self-regulatory
organization. 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\ 15 U.S.C. 78a.
\3\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Terms of Substance
of the Proposed Rule Change
The Exchange proposes to amend Rule 7.10E (Clearly Erroneous
Executions). The proposed rule change is available on the Exchange's
website at www.nyse.com, at the principal office of the Exchange, 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 self-regulatory organization
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 those 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 parts of such statements.
A. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Purpose of, and the
Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule Change
1. Purpose
The purpose of the proposed rule change is to amend Rule 7.10-E
(Clearly Erroneous Executions). Specifically, the Exchange proposes to:
(1) make the current clearly erroneous pilot program permanent; and (2)
limit the circumstances where clearly erroneous review would continue
to be available during the Core Trading Session,\4\ when the LULD Plan
to Address Extraordinary Market Volatility (the ``LULD Plan'') \5\
already provides similar protections for trades occurring at prices
that may be deemed erroneous. The Exchange believes that these changes
are appropriate as the LULD Plan has been approved by the Commission on
a permanent basis,\6\ and in light of amendments to the LULD Plan,
including changes to the applicable Price Bands \7\ around the open and
close of trading.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ The term ``Core Trading Session'' is defined in Rule 7.34-
E(a)(2).
\5\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 67091 (May 31,
2012), 77 FR 33498 (June 6, 2012).
\6\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 84843 (December 18,
2018), 83 FR 66464 (December 26, 2018) (``Notice''); 85623 (April
11, 2019), 84 FR 16086 (April 17, 2019) (File No. 4-631)
(``Amendment 18'').
\7\ ``Price Bands'' refers to the term provided in Section V of
the LULD Plan.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
This proposed rule change is substantively identical to the rule
change recently proposed by Cboe BZX, which the Commission approved on
September 1, 2022.\8\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\8\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 95658 (September 1,
2022) (SR-CboeBZX-2022-037).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Proposal To Make the Clearly Erroneous Pilot Permanent
On September 10, 2010, the Commission approved, on a pilot basis,
changes to Rule 7.10-E that, among other things: (i) provided for
uniform treatment of clearly erroneous execution reviews in multi-stock
events involving twenty or more securities; and (ii) reduced the
ability of the Exchange to deviate from the objective standards set
forth in the rule.\9\ In 2013, the Exchange adopted a provision
designed to address the operation of the Plan.\10\ Finally, in 2014,
the Exchange adopted two additional provisions providing that: (i) a
series of transactions in a particular security on one or more trading
days may be viewed as one event if all such transactions were effected
based on the same fundamentally incorrect or grossly misinterpreted
issuance information resulting in a severe valuation error for all such
transactions; and (ii) in the event of any disruption or malfunction in
the operation of the electronic communications and trading facilities
of an Exchange, another SRO, or responsible single plan processor in
connection with the transmittal or receipt of a trading halt, an
Officer, acting on his or her own motion, shall nullify any transaction
that occurs after a trading halt has been declared by the primary
listing market for a security and before such trading halt has
officially ended according to the primary listing market.\11\ These
changes are currently scheduled to operate for a pilot period that
would end at the close of business on October 20, 2022.\12\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\9\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 62886 (Sept. 10,
2010), 75 FR 56613 (Sept. 16, 2010) (SR-NYSEArca-2010-58).
\10\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 68809 (Feb. 1,
2013), 78 FR 9081 (Feb. 7, 2013) (SR-NYSEArca-2013-12).
\11\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 72434 (June 19,
2014), 79 FR 36110 (June 25, 2014) (SR-NYSEArca-2014-48).
\12\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 95303 (July 18,
2022), 87 FR 43911 (July 22, 2022) (SR-NYSEArca-2022-42).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
When it originally approved the clearly erroneous pilot, the
Commission explained that the changes were ``being implemented on a
pilot basis so that the Commission and the Exchanges can monitor the
effects of the pilot on the markets and investors, and consider
appropriate adjustments, as necessary.'' \13\ In the 12 years since
that time, the Exchange and other national securities exchanges have
gained considerable experience in the operation of the rule, as amended
on a pilot basis. Based on that experience,
[[Page 58148]]
the Exchange believes that the program should be allowed to continue on
a permanent basis so that equities market participants and investors
can benefit from the increased certainty provided by the amended rule.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\13\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 62886 (Sept. 10,
2010), 75 FR 56613 (Sept. 16, 2010) (SR-NYSEArca-2010-58).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The clearly erroneous pilot was implemented following a severe
disruption in the U.S. equities markets on May 6, 2010 (``Flash
Crash'') to ``provide greater transparency and certainty to the process
of breaking trades.'' \14\ Largely, the pilot reduced the discretion of
the Exchange, other national securities exchanges, and Financial
Industry Regulatory Authority (``FINRA'') to deviate from the objective
standards in their respective rules when dealing with potentially
erroneous transactions. The pilot has thus helped afford greater
certainty to ETP Holders and investors about when trades will be deemed
erroneous pursuant to self-regulatory organization (``SRO'') rules and
has provided a more transparent process for conducting such reviews.
The Exchange proposes to make the current pilot permanent so that
market participants can continue to benefit from the increased
certainty afforded by the current rule.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\14\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amendments to the Clearly Erroneous Rules
When the Participants to the LULD Plan filed to introduce the Limit
Up-Limit Down (``LULD'') mechanism, itself a response to the Flash
Crash, a handful of commenters noted the potential discordance between
the clearly erroneous rules and the Price Bands used to limit the price
at which trades would be permitted to be executed pursuant to the LULD
Plan. For example, two commenters requested that the clearly erroneous
rules be amended so the presumption would be that trades executed
within the Price Bands would not be not subject to review.\15\ While
the Participants acknowledged that the potential to prevent clearly
erroneous executions would be a ``key benefit'' of the LULD Plan, the
Participants decided not to amend the clearly erroneous rules at that
time.\16\ In the years since, industry feedback has continued to
reflect a desire to eliminate the discordance between the LULD
mechanism and the clearly erroneous rules so that market participants
would have more certainty that trades executed with the Price Bands
would stand. For example, the Equity Market Structure Advisory
Committee (``EMSAC'') Market Quality Subcommittee included in its April
19, 2016 status report a preliminary recommendation that clearly
erroneous rules be amended to conform to the Price Bands--i.e., ``any
trade that takes place within the band would stand and not be broken
and trades outside the LU/LD bands would be eligible for the
consideration of the Clearly Erroneous rules.'' \17\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\15\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 67091 (May 31,
2012), 77 FR 33498 (June 6, 2012) (File No. 4-631) (n. 33505).
\16\ Id.
\17\ See EMSAC Market Quality Subcommittee, Recommendations for
Rulemaking on Issues of Market Quality (November 29, 2016),
available at https://www.sec.gov/spotlight/emsac/emsac-recommendations-rulemaking-market-quality.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Exchange believes that it is important for there to be some
mechanism to ensure that investors' orders are either not executed at
clearly erroneous prices or are subsequently busted as needed to
maintain a fair and orderly market. At the same time, the Exchange
believes that the LULD Plan, as amended, would provide sufficient
protection for trades executed during the Core Trading Session. Indeed,
the LULD mechanism could be considered to offer superior protection as
it prevents potentially erroneous trades from being executed in the
first instance. After gaining experience with the LULD Plan, the
Exchange now believes that it is appropriate to largely eliminate
clearly erroneous review during Core Trading Hours when Price Bands are
in effect. Thus, as proposed, trades executed within the Price Bands
would stand, barring one of a handful of identified scenarios where
such review may still be necessary for the protection of investors. The
Exchange believes that this change would be beneficial for the U.S.
equities markets as it would ensure that trades executed within the
Price Bands are subject to clearly erroneous review in only rare
circumstances, resulting in greater certainty for ETP Holders and
investors.
The current LULD mechanism for addressing extraordinary market
volatility is available solely during the Core Trading Session. Thus,
trades during the Exchange's Early Trading Session \18\ and Late
Trading Session \19\ would not benefit from this protection and could
ultimately be executed at prices that may be considered erroneous. For
this reason, the Exchange proposes that transactions executed during
the Early and Late Trading Sessions would continue to be reviewable as
clearly erroneous. Continued availability of the clearly erroneous rule
during the Early and Late Trading Sessions would therefore ensure that
investors have appropriate recourse when erroneous trades are executed
outside of the hours where similar protection can be provided by the
LULD Plan. Further, the proposal is designed to eliminate the potential
discordance between clearly erroneous review and LULD Price Bands,
which does not exist outside of the Core Trading Session because the
LULD Plan is not in effect. Thus, the Exchange believes that it is
appropriate to continue to allow transactions to be eligible for
clearly erroneous review if executed outside of the Core Trading
Session.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\18\ The term ``Early Trading Session'' is defined in Rule
7.34E(a)(1).
\19\ The term ``Late Trading Session'' is defined in Rule
7.34E(a)(3).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the other hand, there would be much more limited potential to
request that a transaction be reviewed as potentially erroneous during
the Core Trading Session. With the introduction of the LULD mechanism
in 2013, clearly erroneous trades are largely prevented by the
requirement that trades be executed within the Price Bands. In
addition, in 2019, Amendment 18 to the LULD Plan eliminated double-wide
Price Bands: (1) at the Open, and (2) at the Close for Tier 2 NMS
Stocks 2 with a Reference Price above $3.00.\20\ Due to these changes,
the Exchange believes that the Price Bands would provide sufficient
protection to investor orders such that clearly erroneous review would
no longer be necessary during the Core Trading Session. As the
Participants to the LULD Plan explained in Amendment 18: ``Broadly, the
Limit Up-Limit Down mechanism prevents trades from happening at prices
where one party to the trade would be considered `aggrieved,' and thus
could be viewed as an appropriate mechanism to supplant clearly
erroneous rules.'' While the Participants also expressed concern that
the Price Bands might be too wide to afford meaningful protection
around the open and close of trading, amendments to the LULD Plan
adopted in Amendment 18 narrowed Price Bands at these times in a manner
that the Exchange believes is sufficient to ensure that investors'
orders would be appropriately protected in the absence of clearly
erroneous review. The Exchange therefore believes that it is
appropriate to rely on the LULD mechanism as the primary means of
preventing clearly erroneous trades during the Core Trading Session.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\20\ See Amendment 18, supra note 6.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
At the same time, the Exchange is cognizant that there may be
limited circumstances where clearly erroneous review may continue to be
appropriate, even during the Core Trading Session.
[[Page 58149]]
Thus, the Exchange proposes to amend its clearly erroneous rules to
enumerate the specific circumstances where such review would remain
available during the course of the Core Trading Session, as follows.
All transactions that fall outside of these specific enumerated
exceptions would be ineligible for clearly erroneous review.
First, pursuant to proposed paragraph (c)(1)(A), a transaction
executed during the Core Trading Session would continue to be eligible
for clearly erroneous review if the transaction is not subject to the
LULD Plan. In such case, the Numerical Guidelines set forth in
paragraph (c)(2) will be applicable to such NMS Stock. While the
majority of securities traded on the Exchange would be subject to the
LULD Plan, certain equity securities, such as rights and warrants, are
explicitly excluded from the provisions of the LULD Plan and would
therefore be eligible for clearly erroneous review instead.\21\
Similarly, there are instances, such as the opening auction on the
primary listing market,\22\ where transactions are not ordinarily
subject to the LULD Plan, or circumstances where a transaction that
ordinarily would have been subject to the LULD Plan is not--due, for
example, to some issue with processing the Price Bands. These
transactions would continue to be eligible for clearly erroneous
review, effectively ensuring that such review remains available as a
backstop when the LULD Plan would not prevent executions from occurring
at erroneous prices in the first instance.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\21\ See Appendix A of the LULD Plan.
\22\ The initial Reference Price used to calculate Price Bands
is typically set by the Opening Price on the primary listing market.
See Section V(B) of the LULD Plan.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Second, investors would also continue to be able to request review
of transactions that resulted from certain systems issues pursuant to
proposed paragraph (c)(1)(B). This limited exception would help to
ensure that trades that should not have been executed would continue to
be subject to clearly erroneous review. Specifically, as proposed,
transactions executed during the Core Trading Session would be eligible
for clearly erroneous review pursuant to proposed paragraph (c)(1)(B)
if the transaction is the result of an Exchange technology or systems
issue that results in the transaction occurring outside of the
applicable LULD Price Bands pursuant to paragraph (g). A transaction
subject to review pursuant to this paragraph shall be found to be
clearly erroneous if the price of the transaction to buy (sell) that is
the subject of the complaint is greater than (less than) the Reference
Price, described in paragraph (d) of this Rule, by an amount that
equals or exceeds the applicable Percentage Parameter defined in
Appendix A to the LULD Plan (``Percentage Parameters'').
Third, the Exchange proposes to narrowly allow for the review of
transactions during the Core Trading Session when the Reference Price,
described in proposed paragraph (d), is determined to be erroneous by
an Officer of the Exchange. Specifically, a transaction executed during
the Core Trading Session would be eligible for clearly erroneous review
pursuant to proposed paragraph (c)(1)(C) if the transaction involved,
in the case of (1) a corporate action or new issue, or (2) a security
that enters a Trading Pause pursuant to the LULD Plan and resumes
trading without an auction,\23\ a Reference Price that is determined to
be erroneous by an Officer of the Exchange because it clearly deviated
from the theoretical value of the security. In such circumstances, the
Exchange may use a different Reference Price pursuant to proposed
paragraph (d)(2) of this Rule. A transaction subject to review pursuant
to this paragraph shall be found to be clearly erroneous if the price
of the transaction to buy (sell) that is the subject of the complaint
is greater than (less than) the new Reference Price, described in
paragraph (d)(2), by an amount that equals or exceeds the applicable
Numerical Guidelines or Percentage Parameters, as applicable depending
on whether the security is subject to the LULD Plan. Specifically, the
Percentage Parameters would apply to all transactions except those in
an NMS Stock that is not subject to the LULD Plan, as described in
paragraph (c)(1)(A).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\23\ The Exchange notes that the ``resumption of trading without
an auction'' provision of the proposed rule text applies only to
securities that enter a Trading Pause pursuant to LULD and does not
apply to a corporate action or new issue.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the context of a corporate action or a new issue, there may be
instances where the security's Reference Price is later determined by
the Exchange to be erroneous (e.g., because of a bad first trade for a
new issue), and subsequent LULD Price Bands are calculated from that
incorrect Reference Price. In determining whether the Reference Price
is erroneous in such instances, the Exchange would generally look to
see if such Reference Price clearly deviated from the theoretical value
of the security. In such cases, the Exchange would consider a number of
factors to determine a new Reference Price that is based on the
theoretical value of the security, including but not limited to, the
offering price of the new issue, the ratio of the stock split applied
to the prior day's closing price, the theoretical price derived from
the numerical terms of the corporate action transaction such as the
exchange ratio and spin-off terms, and the prior day's closing price on
the OTC market for an OTC up-listing.\24\ In the foregoing instances,
the theoretical value of the security would be used as the new
Reference Price when applying the Percentage Parameters under the LULD
Plan (or Numerical Guidelines if the transaction is in an NMS Stock
that is not subject to the LULD Plan) to determine whether executions
would be cancelled as clearly erroneous.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\24\ Using transaction data reported to the FINRA OTC Reporting
Facility, FINRA disseminates via the Trade Data Dissemination
Service a final closing report for OTC equity securities for each
business day that includes, among other things, each security's
closing last sale price.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following examples illustrate the proposed application of the
rule in the context of a corporate action or new issue:
Example 1:
1. ABCD is subject to a corporate action, 1 for 10 reverse split,
and the previous day close was $5, but the new theoretical price based
on the terms of the corporate action is $50.
2. The security opens at $5, with LULD bands at $4.50 x $5.50
3. The bands will be calculated correctly but the security is
trading at an erroneous price based on the valuation of the remaining
outstanding shares
4. The theoretical price of $50 would be used as the new Reference
Price when applying LULD bands to determine if executions would be
cancelled as clearly erroneous
Example 2:
1. ABCD is subject to a corporate action, the company is doing a
spin off where a new issue will be listed, BCDE. ABCD trades at $50,
and the spinoff company is worth \1/5\ of ABCD
2. BCDE opens at $50 in the belief it is the same company as ABCD
3. The theoretical values of the two companies are ABCD $40 and
BCDE $10
4. BCDE would be deemed to have had an incorrect Reference Price
and the theoretical value of $10 would be used as the new Reference
Price when applying the LULD Bands to determine if executions would be
cancelled as clearly erroneous.
Example 3:
1. ABCD is an uplift from the OTC market, the prior days close on
the OTC market was $20.
2. ABCD opens trading on the new listing exchange at $0.20 due to
an erroneous order entry.
[[Page 58150]]
3. The new Reference Price to determine clearly erroneous
executions would be $20, the theoretical value of the stock from where
it was last traded.
In the context of the rare situation in which a security that
enters a LULD Trading Pause and resumes trading without an auction
(i.e., reopens with quotations), the LULD Plan requires that the new
Reference Price in this instance be established by using the mid-point
of the best bid and offer (``BBO'') on the primary listing exchange at
the reopening time.\25\ This can result in a Reference Price and
subsequent LULD Price Band calculation that is significantly away from
the security's last traded or more relevant price, especially in less
liquid names. In such rare instances, the Exchange is proposing to use
a different Reference Price that is based on the prior LULD Band that
triggered the Trading Pause, rather than the midpoint of the BBO.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\25\ See LULD Plan, Section I(U) and V(C)(1).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following example illustrates the proposed application of the
rule in the context of a security that reopens without an auction:
Example 4:
1. ABCD stock is trading at $20, with LULD Bands at $18 x $22.
2. An incoming buy order causes the stock to enter a Limit State
Trading Pause and then a Trading Pause at $22.
3. During the Trading Pause, the buy order causing the Trading
Pause is cancelled.
4. At the end of the 5-minute halt, there is no crossed interest
for an auction to occur, thus trading would resume on a quote.
5. Upon resumption, a quote that was available prior to the Trading
Pause (e.g. a quote was resting on the book prior to the Trading
Pause), is widely set at $10 x $90.
6. The Reference Price upon resumption is $50 (mid-point of BBO).
7. The SIP will use this Reference Price and publish LULD Bands of
$45 x $55 (i.e., far away from BBO prior to the halt).
8. The bands will be calculated correctly, but the $50 Reference
Price is subsequently determined to be incorrect as the price clearly
deviated from where it previously traded prior to the Trading Pause.
9. The new Reference Price would be $22 (i.e., the last effective
Price Band that was in a limit state before the Trading Pause), and the
LULD Bands would be applied to determine if the executions should be
cancelled as clearly erroneous.
In all of the foregoing situations, investors would be left with no
remedy to request clearly erroneous review without the proposed
carveouts in paragraph (c)(1)(C) because the trades occurred within the
LULD Price Bands (albeit LULD Price Bands that were calculated from an
erroneous Reference Price). The Exchange believes that removing the
current ability for the Exchange to review in these narrow
circumstances would lessen investor protections.
Numerical Guidelines
Currently, paragraph (c)(1) defines the Numerical Guidelines that
are used to determine if a transaction is deemed clearly erroneous
during the Core Trading Session and during the Early and Late Trading
Sessions. With respect to the Core Trading Session, trades are
generally deemed clearly erroneous if the execution price differs from
the Reference Price (i.e., last sale) by 10% if the Reference Price is
greater than $0.00 up to and including $25.00; 5% if the Reference
Price is greater than $25.00 up to and including $50.00; and 3% if the
Reference Price is greater than $50.00. Wider parameters are also used
for reviews for Multi-Stock Events, as described in paragraph (c)(2).
With respect to transactions in Leveraged ETF/ETN securities executed
during the Core Trading Session or Early or Late Trading Session,
trades are deemed clearly erroneous if the execution price exceeds the
Core Trading Session Numerical Guidelines multiplied by the leverage
multiplier.
The Exchange proposes to amend the way that the Numerical
Guidelines are calculated during the Core Trading Session in the
handful of instances where clearly erroneous review would continue to
be available. Specifically, the Exchange would base these Numerical
Guidelines, as applied to the circumstances described in paragraph
(c)(1)(A), on the Percentage Parameters used to calculate Price Bands,
as set forth in Appendix A to the LULD Plan. Without this change, a
transaction that would otherwise stand if Price Bands were properly
applied to the transaction may end up being subject to review and
deemed clearly erroneous solely due to the fact that the Price Bands
were not available due to a systems or other issue. The Exchange
believes that it makes more sense to instead base the Price Bands on
the same parameters as would otherwise determine whether the trade
would have been allowed to execute within the Price Bands. The Exchange
also proposes to modify the Numerical Guidelines applicable to
leveraged ETF/ETN securities during the Core Trading Session. As noted
above, the Numerical Guidelines will only be applicable to transactions
eligible for review pursuant paragraph (c)(1)(A) (i.e., to NMS Stocks
that are not subject to the LULD Plan). As leveraged ETF/ETN securities
are subject to LULD and thus the Percentage Parameters will be
applicable during the Core Trading Session, the Exchange proposes to
eliminate the Numerical Guidelines for leveraged ETF/ETN securities
traded during the Core Trading Session. However, as no Price Bands are
available outside of the Core Trading Session, the Exchange proposes to
keep the existing Numerical Guidelines in place for transactions in
leveraged ETF/ETN securities that occur during the Early and Late
Trading Sessions.
The Exchange also proposes to move existing paragraphs (c)(2),
(c)(3), and (d) to proposed paragraph (c)(2)(B), (c)(2)(C), and
(C)(2)(D), respectively, as Multi-Stock Events, Additional Factors, and
Outlier Transactions will only be subject to review if those NMS Stocks
are not subject to the LULD Plan or occur during the Early or Late
Trading Session. Proposed paragraph (c)(2)(B) is substantially similar
to existing paragraph (c)(2) except for a change in rule reference to
paragraph (c)(1) has been updated to paragraph (c)(1)(A). Further,
given the proposal to move existing paragraph (c)(2) to paragraph
(c)(2)(B), the Exchange also proposes to amend applicable rule
references throughout paragraph (c)(2)(A). Finally, the Exchange
proposes to update applicable rule references in paragraph (c)(2)(D)
based on the above-described structural changes to the Rule.
Reference Price
As proposed, the Reference Price used would continue to be based on
last sale and would be memorialized in proposed paragraph (d).
Continuing to use the last sale as the Reference Price is necessary for
operational efficiency as it may not be possible to perform a timely
clearly erroneous review if doing so required computing the arithmetic
mean price of eligible reported transactions over the past five
minutes, as contemplated by the LULD Plan. While this means that there
would still be some differences between the Price Bands and the clearly
erroneous parameters, the Exchange believes that this difference is
reasonable in light of the need to ensure timely review if clearly
erroneous rules are invoked. The Exchange also proposes to allow for an
alternate Reference Price to be used as prescribed in proposed
paragraphs (d)(1), (2), and (3). Specifically, the Reference Price may
be a value other than the
[[Page 58151]]
consolidated last sale immediately prior to the execution(s) under
review (1) in the case of Multi-Stock Events involving twenty or more
securities, as described in paragraph (c)(2)(B) above, (2) in the case
of an erroneous Reference Price, as described in paragraph (c)(1)(C)
above,\26\ or (3) in other circumstances, such as, for example,
relevant news impacting a security or securities, periods of extreme
market volatility, sustained illiquidity, or widespread system issues,
where use of a different Reference Price is necessary for the
maintenance of a fair and orderly market and the protection of
investors and the public interest, provided that such circumstances
occurred during Early or Late Trading Session or are eligible for
review pursuant to paragraph (c)(1)(A).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\26\ As discussed above, in the case of (c)(1)(C)(1), the
Exchange would consider a number of factors to determine a new
Reference Price that is based on the theoretical value of the
security, including but not limited to, the offering price of the
new issue, the ratio of the stock split applied to the prior day's
closing price, the theoretical price derived from the numerical
terms of the corporate action transaction such as the exchange ratio
and spin-off terms, and the prior day's closing price on the OTC
market for an OTC up-listing. In the case of (c)(1)(C)(2), the
Reference Price will be the last effective Price Band that was in a
limit state before the Trading Pause.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Appeals
As described more fully below, the Exchange proposes to eliminate
paragraph (f), System Disruption or Malfunction. Accordingly, the
Exchange proposes to remove from paragraph (e)(2), Appeals, each
reference to paragraph (f), and include language referencing proposed
paragraph (g), Transactions Occurring Outside of the LULD Bands.
System Disruption or Malfunction
To conform with the structural changes descried above, the Exchange
now proposes to remove paragraph (f), System Disruption or Malfunction,
and proposes new paragraph (c)(1)(B). Specifically, as described in
proposed paragraph (c)(1)(B), transactions occurring during the Core
Trading Session that are executed outside of the LULD Price Bands due
to an Exchange technology or system issue may be subject to clearly
erroneous review pursuant to proposed paragraph (g). Proposed paragraph
(c)(1)(B) further provides that a transaction subject to review
pursuant to this paragraph shall be found to be clearly erroneous if
the price of the transaction to buy (sell) that is the subject of the
complaint is greater than (less than) the Reference Price, described in
paragraph (d), by an amount that equals or exceeds the applicable
Percentage Parameter defined in Appendix A to the LULD Plan.
Trade Nullification for UTP Securities That Are the Subject of Initial
Public Offerings
Current paragraph (h) of Rule 7.10 provides different procedures
for conducting clearly erroneous review in initial public offering
(``IPO'') securities that are traded pursuant to unlisted trading
privileges (``UTP'') after the initial opening of such IPO securities
on the listing market. Specifically, this paragraph provides that a
clearly erroneous error may be deemed to have occurred in the opening
transaction of the subject security if the execution price of the
opening transaction on the Exchange is the lesser of $1.00 or 10% away
from the opening price on the listing exchange or association. The
Exchange believes that this provision is no longer necessary as opening
transactions on the Exchange following an IPO are subject to Price
Bands pursuant to the LULD Plan. The Exchange therefore proposes to
eliminate this provision in connection with the broader changes to
clearly erroneous review during the Core Trading Session.
Securities Subject to Limit Up-Limit Down Plan
The Exchange proposes to renumber paragraph (i) to paragraph (h)
based on the proposal to eliminate existing paragraph (h), and to
rename the paragraph to provide for transactions occurring outside of
LULD Price Bands. Given that proposed paragraph (c)(1) defines the LULD
Plan, the Exchange also proposes to eliminate redundant language from
proposed paragraph (h). Finally, the Exchange also proposes to update
references to the LULD Plan and Price Bands so that they are uniform
throughout the Rule and to update rule references throughout the
paragraph to conform to the structural changes to the Rule described
above.
Multi-Day Event and Trading Halts
The Exchange proposes to renumber paragraphs (j) and (k) to
paragraphs (h) and (i), respectively, based on the proposal to
eliminate existing paragraph (h). Additionally, the Exchange proposes
to modify the text of both paragraphs to reference the Percentage
Parameters as well as the Numerical Guidelines. Specifically, the
existing text of proposed paragraphs (h) and (i) provides that any
action taken in connection with this paragraph will be taken without
regard to the Numerical Guidelines set forth in this Rule. The Exchange
proposes to amend the rule text to provide that any action taken in
connection with this paragraph will be taken without regard to the
Percentage Parameters or Numerical Guidelines set forth in this Rule,
with the Percentage Parameters being applicable to an NMS Stock subject
to the LULD Plan and the Numerical Guidelines being applicable to an
NMS Stock not subject to the LULD Plan.
2. Statutory Basis
The Exchange believes the proposed rule change is consistent with
the requirements of Section 6(b) of the Act,\27\ in general, and
Section 6(b)(5) of the Act,\28\ in particular, in that it is designed
to remove impediments to and perfect the mechanism of a free and open
market and a national market system, to promote just and equitable
principles of trade, and, in general, to protect investors and the
public interest and not to permit unfair discrimination between
customers, issuers, brokers, or dealers.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\27\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b).
\28\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
As explained in the purpose section of this proposed rule change,
the current pilot was implemented following the Flash Crash to bring
greater transparency to the process for conducting clearly erroneous
reviews, and to help assure that the review process is based on clear,
objective, and consistent rules across the U.S. equities markets. The
Exchange believes that the amended clearly erroneous rules have been
successful in that regard and have thus furthered fair and orderly
markets. Specifically, the Exchange believes that the pilot has
successfully ensured that such reviews are conducted based on objective
and consistent standards across SROs and has therefore afforded greater
certainty to ETP Holders and investors. The Exchange therefore believes
that making the current pilot a permanent program is appropriate so
that equities market participants can continue to reap the benefits of
a clear, objective, and transparent process for conducting clearly
erroneous reviews. In addition, the Exchange understands that the other
U.S. equities exchanges and FINRA will also file largely identical
proposals to make their respective clearly erroneous pilots permanent.
The Exchange therefore believes that the proposed rule change would
promote transparency and uniformity across markets concerning review of
transactions as clearly erroneous and would also help assure consistent
results in handling erroneous trades across the U.S. equities markets,
thus furthering fair and orderly markets,
[[Page 58152]]
the protection of investors, and the public interest.
Similarly, the Exchange believes that it is consistent with just
and equitable principles of trade to limit the availability of clearly
erroneous review during the Core Trading Session. The Plan was approved
by the Commission to operate on a permanent rather than pilot basis. As
a number of market participants have noted, the LULD Plan provides
protections that ensure that investors' orders are not executed at
prices that may be considered clearly erroneous. Further, amendments to
the LULD Plan approved in Amendment 18 serve to ensure that the Price
Bands established by the LULD Plan are ``appropriately tailored to
prevent trades that are so far from current market prices that they
would be viewed as having been executed in error.'' \29\ Thus, the
Exchange believes that clearly erroneous review should only be
necessary in very limited circumstances during the Core Trading
Session. Specifically, such review would only be necessary in instances
where a transaction was not subject to the LULD Plan, or was the result
of some form of systems issue, as detailed in the purpose section of
this proposed rule change. Additionally, in narrow circumstances where
the transaction was subject to the LULD Plan, a clearly erroneous
review would be available in the case of (1) a corporate action or new
issue or (2) a security that enters a Trading Pause pursuant to LULD
and resumes trading without an auction, where the Reference Price is
determined to be erroneous by an Officer of the Exchange because it
clearly deviated from the theoretical value of the security. Thus,
eliminating clearly erroneous review in all other instances will serve
to increase certainty for ETP Holders and investors that trades
executed during the Core Trading Session would typically stand and
would not be subject to review.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\29\ See Amendment 18, supra note 6.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Given the fact that clearly erroneous review would largely be
limited to transactions that were not subject to the LULD Plan, the
Exchange also believes that it is necessary to change the parameters
used to determine whether a trade is clearly erroneous. Specifically,
due to the different parameters currently used for clearly erroneous
review and for determining Price Bands, it is possible that a trade
that would have been permitted to execute within the Price Bands would
later be deemed clearly erroneous, if, for example, a systems issue
prevented the dissemination of the Price Bands. The Exchange believes
that this result is contrary to the principle that trades within the
Price Bands should stand, and has the potential to cause investor
confusion if trades that are properly executed within the applicable
parameters described in the LULD Plan are later deemed erroneous. By
using consistent parameters for clearly erroneous reviews conducted
during the Core Trading Session and the calculation of the Price Bands,
the Exchange believes that this change would also serve to promote
greater certainty with regards to when trades may be deemed erroneous.
The Exchange believes that it is consistent with the protection of
investors and the public interest to remove the current provision of
the clearly erroneous rule dealing with UTP securities that are the
subject of IPOs. This provision applies specifically to opening
transactions on a non-listing market following an IPO on the listing
market. As such, review under this paragraph is limited to trades
conducted during the Core Trading Session. As previously addressed,
trades executed during the Core Trading Session would generally not be
subject to clearly erroneous review but would instead be protected by
the Price Bands. The Exchange therefore no longer believes that this
paragraph is necessary, as all trades subject to this provision today
would either be subject to the LULD Plan, or, in the event of some
systems or other issue, would be subject to the provisions that apply
to transactions that are not adequately protected by the LULD Plan.
Finally, the proposed rule changes make organizational updates to
the Exchange's Clearly Erroneous Execution Rule as well as minor
updates and corrections to the Rule to improve readability and clarity.
B. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement on Burden on Competition
The Exchange does not believe that the proposed rule change would
impose any burden on competition that is not necessary or appropriate
in furtherance of the purposes of the Act. The proposal would ensure
the continued, uninterrupted operation of harmonized clearly erroneous
execution rules across the U.S. equities markets while also amending
those rules to provide greater certainty to ETP Holders and investors
that trades will stand if executed during the Core Trading Session
where the LULD Plan provides adequate protection against trading at
erroneous prices. The Exchange understands that the other national
securities exchanges and FINRA will also file similar proposals, the
substance of which are identical to this proposal and to the Cboe BZX
proposal that the Commission recently approved.\30\ Thus, the proposed
rule change will help to ensure consistency across SROs without
implicating any competitive issues.
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\30\ See supra note 8.
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C. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement on Comments on the Proposed
Rule Change Received From Members, Participants, or Others
No written comments were solicited or received with respect to the
proposed rule change.
III. Date of Effectiveness of the Proposed Rule Change and Timing for
Commission Action
The Exchange has filed the proposed rule change pursuant to Section
19(b)(3)(A)(iii) of the Act \31\ and Rule 19b-4(f)(6) thereunder.\32\
Because the proposed rule change does not: (i) significantly affect the
protection of investors or the public interest; (ii) impose any
significant burden on competition; and (iii) become operative prior to
30 days from the date on which it was filed, or such shorter time as
the Commission may designate, if consistent with the protection of
investors and the public interest, the proposed rule change has become
effective pursuant to Section 19(b)(3)(A) of the Act and Rule 19b-
4(f)(6)(iii) thereunder.
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\31\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A)(iii).
\32\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4(f)(6).
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A proposed rule change filed under Rule 19b-4(f)(6) \33\ normally
does not become operative prior to 30 days after the date of the
filing. However, Rule 19b-4(f)(6)(iii) \34\ permits the Commission to
designate a shorter time if such action is consistent with the
protection of investors and the public interest. The Exchange has asked
the Commission to waive the 30-day operative delay so that the proposed
rule change may become operative on October 1, 2022. The Commission
believes that waiving the 30-day operative delay is consistent with the
protection of investors and the public interest, as it will allow the
Exchange to coordinate its implementation of the revised clearly
erroneous execution rules with the other national securities exchanges
and FINRA, and will help ensure consistency across the SROs.\35\ For
this reason, the Commission hereby waives the 30-day operative delay
and
[[Page 58153]]
designates the proposed rule change as operative upon filing.\36\
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\33\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4(f)(6).
\34\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4(f)(6)(iii).
\35\ See SR-CboeBZX-2022-37 (July 8, 2022).
\36\ For purposes only of waiving the 30-day operative delay,
the Commission has also considered the proposed rule's impact on
efficiency, competition, and capital formation. See 15 U.S.C.
78c(f).
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At any time within 60 days of the filing of such 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 shall institute proceedings under
Section 19(b)(2)(B) \37\ of the Act to determine whether the proposed
rule change should be approved or disapproved.
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\37\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(2)(B).
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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 SR-NYSEARCA-2022-62 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-NYSEARCA-2022-62.
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-NYSEARCA-2022-62 and should
be submitted on or before October 14, 2022.
For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets,
pursuant to delegated authority.\38\
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\38\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(12).
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J. Matthew DeLesDernier,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2022-20595 Filed 9-22-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P