Notice2024-11801

Self-Regulatory Organizations; Nasdaq ISE, LLC; Notice of Filing of Proposed Rule Change To Permit the Listing of Two Monday Expirations for Options on GLD, SLV, TLT, USO, and UNG

Primary source

Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.

Published
May 30, 2024

Issuing agencies

Securities and Exchange Commission

Full Text

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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 105 (Thursday, May 30, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 105 (Thursday, May 30, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46926-46937]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-11801]


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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

[Release No. 34-100223; File No. SR-ISE-2024-21]


Self-Regulatory Organizations; Nasdaq ISE, LLC; Notice of Filing 
of Proposed Rule Change To Permit the Listing of Two Monday Expirations 
for Options on GLD, SLV, TLT, USO, and UNG

May 23, 2024.
    Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 
(``Act''),\1\ and Rule 19b-4 thereunder,\2\ notice is hereby given that 
on May 16, 2024, Nasdaq ISE, LLC (``ISE'' or ``Exchange'') filed with 
the Securities and Exchange Commission (``Commission'') the proposed 
rule change as described in Items I and II, below, which Items have 
been prepared by the Exchange. The Commission is publishing this notice 
to solicit comments on the proposed rule change from interested 
persons.
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    \1\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).
    \2\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4.
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I. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Terms of Substance 
of the Proposed Rule Change

    The Exchange proposes to amend the Short Term Option Series Program 
in Supplementary Material .03 of Options 4, Section 5.
    The text of the proposed rule change is available on the Exchange's 
website at <a href="https://listingcenter.nasdaq.com/rulebook/ise/rules">https://listingcenter.nasdaq.com/rulebook/ise/rules</a>, 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 Exchange included statements 
concerning the purpose of and basis for the proposed rule change and 
discussed any comments it received on the proposed rule change. The 
text of these statements may be examined at the places specified in 
Item IV below. The Exchange has prepared summaries, set forth in 
sections A, B, and C below, of the most significant aspects of such 
statements.

A. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Purpose of, and 
Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule Change

1. Purpose
    The Exchange proposes to amend the Short Term Option Series Program 
in Supplementary Material .03 of Options 4, Section 5. Specifically, 
the Exchange proposes to expand the Short Term Option Series Program to 
permit the listing of two Monday expirations for options on United 
States Oil Fund, LP (``USO''), United States Natural Gas Fund, LP 
(``UNG''), SPDR Gold Shares (``GLD''), iShares Silver Trust (``SLV''), 
and iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (``TLT'') (collectively 
``Exchange Traded Products'' or ``ETPs'').\3\
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    \3\ Today, the Exchange permits the listing of two Wednesday 
expirations for options on USO, UNG, GLD, SLV, and TLT. See 
Securities Exchange Act Release No. 98905 (November 13, 2023), 88 FR 
80348 (November 17, 2023) (SR-ISE-2023-11) (``Wednesday Approval 
Order''). The Exchange began listing Wednesday expirations on these 
five symbols on November 21, 2023. See Options Trader Alert #2023-
55.
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    Currently, as set forth in Supplementary Material .03 to Options 4, 
Section 5, after an option class has been approved for listing and 
trading on the Exchange as a Short Term Option Series pursuant to 
Options 1, Section 1(a)(49),\4\ the Exchange may open for

[[Page 46927]]

trading on any Thursday or Friday that is a business day (``Short Term 
Option Opening Date'') series of options on that class that expire at 
the close of business on each of the next five Fridays that are 
business days and are not Fridays in which standard expiration options 
series, Monthly Options Series, or Quarterly Options Series expire 
(``Friday Short Term Option Expiration Dates''). The Exchange may have 
no more than a total of five Short Term Option Expiration Dates. 
Further, if the Exchange is not open for business on the respective 
Thursday or Friday, the Short Term Option Opening Date for Short Term 
Option Weekly Expirations will be the first business day immediately 
prior to that respective Thursday or Friday. Similarly, if the Exchange 
is not open for business on a Friday, the Short Term Option Expiration 
Date for Short Term Option Weekly Expirations will be the first 
business day immediately prior to that Friday.
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    \4\ Options 1, Section 1(a)(49) provides that a Short Term 
Option Series means a series in an option class that is approved for 
listing and trading on the Exchange in which the series is opened 
for trading on any Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday 
that is a business day and that expires on the Monday, Wednesday or 
Friday of the following business week that is a business day, or, in 
the case of a series that is listed on a Friday and expires on a 
Monday, is listed one business week and one business day prior to 
that expiration. If a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday is not 
a business day, the series may be opened (or shall expire) on the 
first business day immediately prior to that Tuesday, Wednesday, 
Thursday or Friday. For a series listed pursuant to this section for 
Monday expiration, if a Monday is not a business day, the series 
shall expire on the first business day immediately following that 
Monday.
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    Additionally, the Exchange may open for trading series of options 
on the symbols provided in Table 1 of Supplementary Material .03 to 
Options 4, Section 5 that expire at the close of business on each of 
the next two Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, 
respectively, that are business days beyond the current week and are 
not business days in which standard expiration options series, Monthly 
Options Series, or Quarterly Options Series expire (``Short Term Option 
Daily Expirations'').\5\ For those symbols listed in Table 1, the 
Exchange may have no more than a total of two Short Term Option Daily 
Expirations beyond the current week for each of Monday, Tuesday, 
Wednesday, and Thursday expirations, as applicable, at one time.
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    \5\ As set forth in Table 1, the Exchange currently only permits 
Wednesday expirations for USO, UNG, GLD, SLV, and TLT.
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Proposal
    At this time, the Exchange proposes to expand the Short Term Option 
Daily Expirations to permit the listing and trading of options on USO, 
UNG, GLD, SLV, and TLT expiring on Mondays. The Exchange proposes to 
permit two Short Term Option Expiration Dates beyond the current week 
for each Monday expiration at one time, and would update Table 1 in 
Supplementary Material .03 to Options 4, Section 5 for each of those 
symbols accordingly.
    The proposed Monday USO, UNG, GLD, SLV, and TLT expirations will be 
similar to the current Monday SPY, QQQ, and IWM Short Term Option Daily 
Expirations set forth in Supplementary Material .03 to Options 4, 
Section 5, such that the Exchange may open for trading on any Friday or 
Monday that is a business day (beyond the current week) series of 
options on USO, UNG, GLD, SLV, and TLT to expire on any Monday of the 
month that is a business day and is not a Monday in which standard 
expiration options series, Monthly Options Series, or Quarterly Options 
Series expire, provided that Monday expirations that are listed on a 
Friday must be listed at least one business week and one business day 
prior to the expiration (``Monday USO Expirations,'' ``Monday UNG 
Expirations,'' ``Monday GLD Expirations,'' ``Monday SLV Expirations,'' 
and ``Monday TLT Expirations'') (collectively, ``Monday ETP 
Expirations'').\6\ In the event Short Term Option Daily Expirations 
expire on a Monday and that Monday is the same day that a standard 
expiration options series, Monthly Options Series, or Quarterly Options 
Series expires, the Exchange would skip that week's listing and instead 
list the following week; the two weeks would therefore not be 
consecutive. Today, Monday expirations in SPY, QQQ, and IWM similarly 
skip the weekly listing in the event the weekly listing expires on the 
same day in the same class as a standard expiration options series, 
Monthly Options Series, or Quarterly Options Series.
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    \6\ Today, USO, UNG, GLD, SLV, and TLT may trade on Wednesdays. 
See supra note 3. They may also trade on Fridays, as is the case for 
all options series in the Short Term Option Series Program.
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    The interval between strike prices for the proposed Monday ETP 
Expirations will be the same as those currently applicable for SPY, 
QQQ, and IWM Monday expirations in the Short Term Option Series 
Program.\7\ Specifically, the Monday ETP Expirations will have a strike 
interval of (i) $0.50 or greater for strike prices below $100, and $1 
or greater for strike prices between $100 and $150 for all option 
classes that participate in the Short Term Option Series Program, (ii) 
$0.50 for option classes that trade in one dollar increments and are in 
the Short Term Option Series Program, or (iii) $2.50 or greater for 
strike prices above $150.\8\ As is the case with other equity options 
series listed pursuant to the Short Term Option Series Program, the 
Monday ETP Expirations series will be P.M.-settled.
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    \7\ See Supplementary Material .03(e) to Options 4, Section 5.
    \8\ Id.
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    Pursuant to Options 1, Section 1(a)(49), with respect to the Short 
Term Option Series Program, if a Monday is not a business day, the 
series shall expire on the first business day immediately following 
that Monday.
    Currently, for each option class eligible for participation in the 
Short Term Option Series Program, the Exchange is limited to opening 
thirty (30) series for each expiration date for the specific class.\9\ 
The thirty (30) series restriction does not include series that are 
open by other securities exchanges under their respective weekly rules; 
the Exchange may list these additional series that are listed by other 
options exchanges.\10\ With the proposed changes, this thirty (30) 
series restriction would apply to Monday USO, UNG, GLD, SLV, and TLT 
Short Term Option Daily Expirations as well. In addition, the Exchange 
will be able to list series that are listed by other exchanges, 
assuming they file similar rules with the Commission to list Monday ETP 
Expirations.
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    \9\ See Supplementary Material .03(a) to Options 4, Section 5.
    \10\ Id.
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    With this proposal, Monday ETP Expirations would be treated 
similarly to existing Monday SPY, QQQ, and IWM Expirations. With 
respect to standard expiration option series, Short Term Option Daily 
Expirations will be permitted to expire in the same week in which 
standard expiration option series on the same class expire.\11\ Not 
listing Short Term Option Daily Expirations for one week every month 
because there was a standard options series on that same class on the 
Friday of that week would create investor confusion.
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    \11\ See Supplementary Material .03(b) to Options 4, Section 5.
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    Further, as with Monday SPY, QQQ, and IWM Expirations, the Exchange 
would not permit Monday ETP Expirations to expire on a business day in 
which standard expiration option series, Monthly Options Series, or 
Quarterly Options Series expire.\12\ Therefore, all Short Term Option 
Daily Expirations would expire at the close of business on each of the 
next two Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and

[[Page 46928]]

Thursdays, respectively, that are business days and are not business 
days in which standard expiration option series, Monthly Options 
Series, or Quarterly Options Series expire. The Exchange believes that 
it is reasonable to not permit two expirations on the same day in which 
a standard expiration option series, Monthly Options Series, a 
Quarterly Options Series would expire because those options would be 
duplicative of each other.
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    \12\ See Supplementary Material .03 to Options 4, Section 5.
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    The Exchange does not believe that any market disruptions will be 
encountered with the introduction of Monday ETP Expirations. The 
Exchange currently trades P.M.-settled Short Term Option Series that 
expire Monday for SPY, QQQ and IWM and has not experienced any market 
disruptions nor issues with capacity. In addition, the Exchange has not 
experienced any market disruptions or issues with capacity in expanding 
the five ETPs to the Wednesday expirations.\13\ Today, the Exchange has 
surveillance programs in place to support and properly monitor trading 
in Short Term Option Series that expire Monday for SPY, QQQ and IWM. 
Further, the Exchange has the necessary capacity and surveillance 
programs in place to support and properly monitor trading in the 
proposed Monday ETP Expirations.
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    \13\ See supra note 3.
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Impact of Proposal
    The Exchange notes that listings in the Short Term Option Series 
Program comprise a significant part of the standard listings in options 
markets. The below diagram demonstrates the percentage of weekly 
listings in the options industry compared to monthly, quarterly, and 
Long-Term Option Series for a twelve-month period ending on February 
22, 2024.\14\
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    \14\ The Exchange sourced this information from The Options 
Clearing Corporation (``OCC''). The information includes time 
averaged data (the number of strikes by maturity date divided from 
the number of trading days) for all 17 options markets through 
February 22, 2024.
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN30MY24.000

    While the Exchange is expanding the Short Term Option Series 
Program to permit USO, UNG, GLD, SLV, and TLT Monday Expirations, the 
Exchange anticipates that it would overall add a small number of weekly 
expiration dates because the Exchange will limit the number of Short 
Term Option Daily Expirations for these ETPs to two Monday expirations. 
Expanding the Short Term Option Series Program in the foregoing manner 
will account for the addition of 4% (GLD), 8% (SLV), and 4% (TLT), 16% 
(UNG), and 9% (USO) of strikes for the respective symbol.\15\ With 
respect to the impact on the Short Term Option Series Program for each 
symbol overall, the impact would be a 13% (GLD), 20% (SLV), and 18% 
(TLT), 26% (UNG), and 18% (USO) increase in strikes for the respective 
symbol.\16\ With respect to the impact on the Short Term Option Series 
Program overall, the impact would be a 0.05% (GLD), 0.03% (SLV), and 
0.04% (TLT), 0.04% (UNG), and 0.04% (USO) increase in strikes for the 
respective symbol.\17\
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    \15\ The Exchange sourced this information, which are estimates, 
from OCC. The information includes data for all 17 options markets 
as of February 22, 2024.
    \16\ The Exchange sourced this information, which are estimates, 
from OCC. The information includes data for all 17 options markets 
as of February 22, 2024.
    \17\ The Exchange sourced this information, which are estimates, 
from OCC. The information includes data for all 17 options markets 
as of February 22, 2024.
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    Further, as shown below, weeklies comprise 48% of the total volume 
of

[[Page 46929]]

options contracts.\18\ The Exchange believes that inner weeklies (first 
two weeks) represent high volume as compared to outer weeklies (the 
last three weeks) and would be more attractive to market participants.
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    \18\ The chart represents industry volume in terms of overall 
contracts. Weeklies comprise 48% of volume while only being 17% of 
the strikes, each as shown above. The Exchange sourced this 
information from OCC. The information includes data for all 17 
options markets through February 22, 2024.
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN30MY24.001

    In addition, the Exchange looked at the average daily contracts 
traded in SPY and QQQ five months before and five months after the 
introduction of Tuesday and Thursday expirations on those two symbols 
to assess whether there was new interest from adding alternative 
expirations (as opposed to existing interest being cannibalized).\19\ 
The below chart shows a volume increase in terms of average daily 
contracts traded in SPY and QQQ in the five-month period following the 
introduction of Tuesday and Thursday expirations, which the Exchange 
believes indicate the existence of genuine new interest in alternative 
expirations for SPY and QQQ.
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    \19\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 96281 (November 9, 
2022), 87 FR 68769 (November 16, 2022) (SR-ISE-2022-18) (Approval 
Order for Tuesday and Thursday Expirations in SPY and QQQ). The 
Exchange began listing Tuesday and Thursday expirations in SPY and 
QQQ in mid-November 2022. See Options Trader Alert #2022-40.

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[[Page 46930]]

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN30MY24.002

    The Exchange believes there is general demand for alternative 
expirations in GLD, SLV, TLT, UNG, and USO based on similar analysis. 
In particular, the Exchange looked at the average daily contracts 
traded in GLD, SLV, TLT, UNG, and USO five months before and five 
months after the introduction of Wednesday expirations to similarly 
assess whether there was new interest from adding these alternative 
expirations.\20\ As shown below, there was a general volume increase in 
terms of average daily contracts traded in these five symbols in the 
five-month period following the introduction of Wednesday 
expirations.\21\
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    \20\ See supra note 3.
    \21\ Note that UNG volume slightly decreased and USO volume 
showed little change in the five-month period following the 
introduction of Wednesday expirations.

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[[Page 46931]]

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN30MY24.003

    The Exchange also looked at the lifecycle volume of GLD, SLV, TLT, 
UNG, and USO in terms of average daily contracts traded, going from 50 
days before expiration to the expiration date, to see how that 
lifecycle volume changed before and after the introduction of Wednesday 
expirations. As shown below, there is a notable increase in volume in 
terms of average daily contracts traded as the expiration date 
approaches. This is consistent across all five symbols as well as 
before and after the addition of Wednesday expirations.
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P

[[Page 46932]]

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN30MY24.004

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN30MY24.005


[[Page 46933]]


[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN30MY24.006

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN30MY24.007


[[Page 46934]]


[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN30MY24.008

BILLING CODE 8011-01-C
    In addition, the below chart shows post-close movements between 
4:00-5:30 p.m. Eastern Time, and indicates that GLD, SLV, TLT, UNG, and 
USO are generally less volatile (strike-wise) than SPY, QQQ, and IWM, 
where alternative expirations exist today.
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN30MY24.009

    Furthermore, the below chart shows that GLD, SLV, TLT, UNG, and USO 
are generally less volatile in the last 30 minutes of trading than SPY, 
QQQ, and IWM, which have alternative expirations today.

[[Page 46935]]

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN30MY24.010

    Because the Exchange proposes to limit the number of Monday 
Expirations for options on USO, UNG, GLD, SLV, and TLT to two 
expirations beyond the current week, the Exchange believes that the 
addition of these Monday ETP Expirations should encourage Market Makers 
to continue to deploy capital more efficiently and improve displayed 
market quality.\22\
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    \22\ Market Makers include Primary Market Makers and Competitive 
Market Makers. See ISE Options 1, Section 1(a)(21). Today, Primary 
Market Makers and Competitive Market Makers are required to quote a 
specified time in their assigned options series. See ISE Options 2, 
Section 5.
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    Similar to SPY, QQQ and IWM Monday Expirations, the introduction of 
Monday ETP Expirations will, among other things, expand hedging tools 
available to market participants and allow for a reduced premium cost 
of buying portfolio protection. The Exchange believes that Monday ETP 
Expirations will allow market participants to hedge their portfolios 
with options on commodities (oil, natural gas, gold, and silver) as 
well as treasury securities, and tailor their investment and hedging 
needs more effectively.
Implementation
    The Exchange proposes to implement this rule change within 30 days 
after Commission approval. The Exchange will issue an Options Trader 
Alert to notify Members of the implementation date.
2. Statutory Basis
    The Exchange believes that its proposal is consistent with Section 
6(b) of the Act,\23\ in general, and furthers the objectives of Section 
6(b)(5) of the Act,\24\ in particular, in that it is designed to 
promote just and equitable principles of trade, to remove impediments 
to and perfect the mechanism of a free and open market and a national 
market system, and, in general to protect investors and the public 
interest.
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    \23\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b).
    \24\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5).
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    Similar to Monday expirations in SPY, QQQ, and IWM, the proposal to 
permit Monday ETP Expirations, subject to the proposed limitation of 
two expirations beyond the current week, would protect investors and 
the public interest by providing the investing public and other market 
participants more choice and flexibility to closely tailor their 
investment and hedging decisions in these options and allow for a 
reduced premium cost of buying portfolio protection, thus allowing them 
to better manage their risk exposure. The Exchange believes that there 
is general demand for alternative expirations based on the analysis 
discussed above, notably comparing the average daily contracts traded 
in options overlying SPY, QQQ, and the five ETPs five months before and 
after the introduction of alternative expirations on those symbols. As 
shown above, the Exchange saw a volume increase in SPY and QQQ in the 
five-month period following the introduction of Tuesday and Thursday 
expirations, which suggests there is indeed genuine new interest in 
these alternative expirations (as opposed to existing interest being 
cannibalized). The Exchange also saw a volume increase in the majority 
of the five ETPs in the five-month period following the introduction of 
Wednesday expirations, likewise indicating the existence of general 
demand for alternative expirations in these symbols.\25\
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    \25\ See supra note 21.
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    ISE represents that it has an adequate surveillance program in 
place to detect manipulative trading in the proposed option 
expirations, in the same way that it monitors trading in the current 
Short Term Option Series for Monday SPY, QQQ and IWM expirations. The 
Exchange also represents that it has the necessary system capacity to 
support the new expirations. Finally, the Exchange does not believe 
that any market disruptions will be encountered with the introduction 
of these option expirations. As discussed above, the Exchange believes 
that its proposal is a modest expansion of weekly expiration dates for 
GLD, SLV, USO, UNG, and TLT given that it will be limited to two Monday 
expirations beyond the current week. Furthermore, the above charts show 
less volatility in these five products (both in terms of post-close and 
during the last 30 minutes of trading) compared to SPY, QQQ, and IWM, 
which have alternative expirations (including Monday expirations) 
today.
    The Exchange believes that the proposal is consistent with the Act 
as

[[Page 46936]]

the proposal would overall add a small number of Monday ETP Expirations 
by limiting the addition of two Monday expirations beyond the current 
week. The addition of Monday ETP Expirations would remove impediments 
to and perfect the mechanism of a free and open market by encouraging 
Market Makers to continue to deploy capital more efficiently and 
improve displayed market quality.\26\ The Exchange believes that the 
proposal will allow Members to expand hedging tools and tailor their 
investment and hedging needs more effectively in USO, UNG, GLD, SLV, 
and TLT as these funds are most likely to be utilized by market 
participants to hedge the underlying asset classes. As stated in the 
Wednesday Approval Order, the ETPs currently trade within ``complexes'' 
where, in addition to the underlying security, there are multiple 
instruments available for hedging. Given the multi-asset class nature 
of these products and available hedges in highly-correlated 
instruments, the Exchange believes that its proposal to add Monday 
expirations on these products will provide market participants with 
additional useful hedging tools for the underlying asset classes.
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    \26\ Today, Primary Market Makers and Market Makers are required 
to quote a specified time in their assigned options series. See ISE 
Options 2, Section 5.
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    Similar to Monday SPY, QQQ, and IWM expirations, the introduction 
of Monday ETP Expirations is consistent with the Act as it will, among 
other things, expand hedging tools available to market participants and 
allow for a reduced premium cost of buying portfolio protection. The 
Exchange believes that Monday ETP Expirations will allow market 
participants to purchase options on USO, UNG, GLD, SLV, and TLT based 
on their timing as needed and allow them to tailor their investment and 
hedging needs more effectively, thus allowing them to better manage 
their risk exposure. Today, ISE lists Monday SPY, QQQ, and IWM 
Expirations.\27\
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    \27\ See ISE Supplementary Material .03 at Options 4, Section 5.
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    In particular, the Exchange believes the Short Term Option Series 
Program has been successful to date and that Monday ETP Expirations 
should simply expand the ability of investors to hedge risk against 
market movements stemming from economic releases or market events that 
occur throughout the month in the same way that the Short Term Option 
Series Program has expanded the landscape of hedging.
    There are no material differences in the treatment of Monday SPY, 
QQQ and IWM expirations compared to the proposed Monday ETP 
Expirations. Given the similarities between Monday SPY, QQQ and IWM 
expirations and the proposed Monday ETP Expirations, the Exchange 
believes that applying the provisions in Supplementary Material .03 to 
Options 4, Section 5 that currently apply to Monday SPY, QQQ and IWM 
expirations is justified. For example, the Exchange believes that 
allowing Monday ETP Expirations and monthly Exchange Traded Product 
expirations in the same week will benefit investors and minimize 
investor confusion by providing Monday ETP Expirations in a continuous 
and uniform manner.

B. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement on Burden on Competition

    The Exchange does not believe that the proposed rule change will 
impose any burden on competition that is not necessary or appropriate 
in furtherance of the purposes of the Act.
    While the proposal will expand the Short Term Options Expirations 
to allow Monday ETP Expirations to be listed on ISE,\28\ the Exchange 
believes that this limited expansion for Monday expirations for options 
on USO, UNG, GLD, SLV, and TLT will not impose an undue burden on 
competition; rather, it will meet customer demand. The Exchange 
believes that Members will continue to be able to expand hedging tools 
and tailor their investment and hedging needs more effectively in USO, 
UNG, GLD, SLV, and TLT.
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    \28\ As noted above, Nasdaq, Phlx, BX, GEMX and MRX incorporate 
ISE Options 4, Section 5 by reference, so the proposed changes 
herein will apply to those markets as well.
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    Similar to Monday SPY, QQQ and IWM expirations, the introduction of 
Monday ETP Expirations does not impose an undue burden on competition. 
The Exchange believes that it will, among other things, expand hedging 
tools available to market participants and allow for a reduced premium 
cost of buying portfolio protection. The Exchange believes that Monday 
ETP Expirations will allow market participants to purchase options on 
USO, UNG, GLD, SLV, and TLT based on their timing as needed and allow 
them to tailor their investment and hedging needs more effectively.
    The Exchange does not believe the proposal will impose any burden 
on inter-market competition, as nothing prevents the other options 
exchanges from proposing similar rules to list and trade Monday ETP 
Expirations.\29\ Further, the Exchange does not believe the proposal 
will impose any burden on intra-market competition, as all market 
participants will be treated in the same manner under this proposal.
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    \29\ See supra note 28.
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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 either solicited or received.

III. Date of Effectiveness of the Proposed Rule Change and Timing for 
Commission Action

    Within 45 days of the date of publication of this notice in the 
Federal Register or within such longer period up to 90 days (i) as the 
Commission may designate if it finds such longer period to be 
appropriate and publishes its reasons for so finding or (ii) as to 
which the self-regulatory organization consents, the Commission will:
    (A) by order approve or disapprove the proposed rule change, or
    (B) institute proceedings to determine whether the proposed rule 
change should be disapproved.

IV. Solicitation of Comments

    Interested persons are invited to submit written data, views, and 
arguments concerning the foregoing, including whether the proposed rule 
change is consistent with the Act. Comments may be submitted by any of 
the following methods:

Electronic Comments

    <bullet> Use the Commission's internet comment form (<a href="https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml">https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml</a>); or
    <bullet> Send an email to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#a4d6d1c8c189c7cbc9c9c1cad0d7e4d7c1c78ac3cbd2"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="8bf9fee7eea6e8e4e6e6eee5fff8cbf8eee8a5ece4fd">[email&#160;protected]</span></a>. Please include 
file number SR-ISE-2024-21 on the subject line.

Paper Comments

    <bullet> 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-ISE-2024-21. 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 (<a href="https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml">https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml</a>). 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

[[Page 46937]]

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 a.m. and 3 p.m. Copies of the 
filing also will be available for inspection and copying at the 
principal office of the Exchange. Do not include personal identifiable 
information in submissions; you should submit only information that you 
wish to make available publicly. We may redact in part or withhold 
entirely from publication submitted material that is obscene or subject 
to copyright protection. All submissions should refer to file number 
SR-ISE-2024-21 and should be submitted on or before June 20, 2024.

    For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets, 
pursuant to delegated authority.\30\
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    \30\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(12).
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Sherry R. Haywood,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2024-11801 Filed 5-29-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P


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