Notice2024-25535
Self-Regulatory Organizations; Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc.; Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change To Amend Its Fee Schedule
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
November 4, 2024
Issuing agencies
Securities and Exchange Commission
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 213 (Monday, November 4, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 213 (Monday, November 4, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 87666-87668]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-25535]
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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
[Release No. 34-101461; File No. SR-CboeBZX-2024-104]
Self-Regulatory Organizations; Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc.; Notice of
Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change To Amend
Its Fee Schedule
October 29, 2024.
Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
(the ``Act''),\1\ and Rule 19b-4 thereunder,\2\ notice is hereby given
that on October 18, 2024, Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. (the ``Exchange'' or
``BZX'') filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the
``Commission'') the proposed rule change as described in Items I, II,
and III below, which Items have been prepared by the Exchange. The
Commission is publishing this notice to solicit comments on the
proposed rule change from interested persons.
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\1\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).
\2\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4.
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I. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Terms of Substance
of the Proposed Rule Change
Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. (the ``Exchange'' or ``BZX Options'')
proposes to amend its Fee Schedule. The text of the proposed rule
change is provided in Exhibit 5.
The text of the proposed rule change is also available on the
Exchange's website (<a href="http://markets.cboe.com/us/equities/regulation/rule_filings/BZX/">http://markets.cboe.com/us/equities/regulation/rule_filings/BZX/</a>), at the Exchange's Office of the Secretary, and at
the Commission's Public Reference Room.
II. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Purpose of, and
Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule Change
In its filing with the Commission, the Exchange included statements
concerning the purpose of and basis for the proposed rule change and
discussed any comments it received on the proposed rule change. The
text of these statements may be examined at the places specified in
Item IV below. The Exchange has prepared summaries, set forth in
sections A, B, and C below, of the most significant aspects of such
statements.
A. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Purpose of, and
Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule Change
1. Purpose
The Exchange proposes to update its Fee Schedule to provide a
temporary 20% discount on fees assessed to Exchange Members \3\ and
non-Members that purchase $20,000 or more of ad hoc purchases of BZX
Options Historical Depth Data (``Historical Depth Reports''), effective
October 18, 2024 through December 31, 2024.
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\3\ See Rule 1.5(n) (``Member''). The term ``Member'' shall mean
any registered broker or dealer that has been admitted to membership
in the Exchange. A Member will have the status of a ``member'' of
the Exchange as that term is defined in Section 3(a)(3) of the Act.
Membership may be granted to a sole proprietor, partnership,
corporation, limited liability company or other organization which
is a registered broker or dealer pursuant to Section 15 of the Act,
and which has been approved by the Exchange.
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By way of background, the Exchange currently makes available for
purchase Depth Data, which is a daily archive of the Exchange's depth
of book real-time feed, which provides depth-of-book quotations and
execution information based on options orders entered into the System.
The Exchange also offers Historical Depth Data, which offers such data
on a historical basis, i.e. T+1 or later. The Historical Depth Report
is a completely voluntary product, in that the Exchange is not required
by any rule or regulation to make this data available and that
potential customers may purchase it on an ad-hoc basis only if they
voluntarily choose to do so.
Cboe LiveVol, LLC (``LiveVol''), a wholly owned subsidiary of the
Exchange's parent company, Cboe Global Markets, Inc., makes the
Historical Depth Report available for purchase to Users on the LiveVol
DataShop website (<a href="http://datashop.cboe.com">datashop.cboe.com</a>). The Historical Depth Data is
available for purchase to Members and Non-Members; the Exchange charges
a fee per month of historical data of $500.\4\ The Historical Depth
Report provided on a historical basis is only provided to data
recipients for internal use only, and thus, no redistribution will be
permitted. The Exchange notes that the Historical Depth Report is
subject to direct competition from other exchanges, as other exchanges
offer similar products for a fee.\5\
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\4\ As part of the proposed rule change, the Exchange proposes
to remove the fee related to delivery per 1TB drive of data as the
Exchange no longer provides 1TB drives.
\5\ See, e.g., <a href="https://www.nasdaqtrader.com/Trader.aspx?id=DPPriceListOptions#nom">https://www.nasdaqtrader.com/Trader.aspx?id=DPPriceListOptions#nom</a>; and <a href="https://www.nyse.com/publicdocs/nyse/data/NYSE_Market_Data_Fee_Schedule.pdf">https://www.nyse.com/publicdocs/nyse/data/NYSE_Market_Data_Fee_Schedule.pdf</a>..
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The Exchange's equities platform (``BZX Equities'') and affiliated
equities and options exchanges (i.e., Cboe Exchange, Inc. (``Cboe
Options''), Cboe EDGX Exchange, Inc. (``EDGX''), Cboe BYX Exchange,
Inc. (``BYX''), Cboe C2 Exchange, Inc. (``C2 Options'') and Cboe EDGA
Exchange, Inc. (``EDGA'') (collectively, ``Affiliates'') also offer
similar data products.\6\ Particularly, each of the Exchange's
Affiliates offer a daily and historical archive of their depth of book
real-time feed with execution information based on their trading
activity that is substantially similar to the information provided by
the Exchange through its Depth Data products.
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\6\ See, for example, EDGX Fee Schedule, Cboe Fee Schedule, BYX
Fee Schedule.
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The Exchange proposes to provide a temporary pricing incentive
program in which Members or Non-Members that purchase Historical Depth
Reports will receive a percentage fee discount where specific purchase
thresholds are met. Specifically, the Exchange proposes to provide a
temporary 20% discount for ad-hoc purchases of Historical Depth Data of
$20,000 or more.\7\ The proposed program will apply to all market
participants irrespective of whether the market participant is a new or
current purchaser; however, the discount cannot be combined with any
other discounts offered by the Exchange. The Exchange intends to
introduce the discount program beginning October 18, 2024, with the
program remaining in effect through December 31, 2024. The Exchange
also notes that it previously adopted similar discount programs for
other historical data products offered by the Exchange.\8\
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\7\ The discount will apply on an order-by-order basis. The
discount will apply to the total purchase price, once the $20,000
minimum purchase is satisfied (for example, a qualifying order of
$25,000 would be discounted to $20,000, i.e. receive a 20% discount
of $5,000).
\8\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 99027 (November 28,
2023), 88 FR 84028 (December 1, 2023) (SR-CboeBZX-2023-094) and
Securities Exchange Act Release No. 100371 (June 18, 2024), 89 FR
53140 (June 25, 2024) (SR-CboeBZX-2024-047).
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2. Statutory Basis
The Exchange believes the proposed rule change is consistent with
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the ``Act'') and the rules and
regulations thereunder applicable to the Exchange and, in particular,
the requirements of
[[Page 87667]]
Section 6(b) of the Act.\9\ Specifically, the Exchange believes the
proposed rule change is consistent with the Section 6(b)(5) \10\
requirements that the rules of an exchange be designed to prevent
fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices, to promote just and
equitable principles of trade, to foster cooperation and coordination
with persons engaged in regulating, clearing, settling, processing
information with respect to, and facilitating transactions in
securities, to remove impediments to and perfect the mechanism of a
free and open market and a national market system, and, in general, to
protect investors and the public interest. Additionally, the Exchange
believes the proposed rule change is consistent with the Section
6(b)(5) \11\ requirement that the rules of an exchange not be designed
to permit unfair discrimination between customers, issuers, brokers, or
dealers.
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\9\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b).
\10\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5).
\11\ Id.
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In adopting Regulation NMS, the Commission granted self-regulatory
organizations (``SROs'') and broker-dealers increased authority and
flexibility to offer new and unique market data to the public. It was
believed that this authority would expand the amount of data available
to consumers, and also spur innovation and competition for the
provision of market data. The Exchange believes that the proposed fee
changes will further broaden the availability of U.S. options market
data to investors consistent with the principles of Regulation NMS. The
Exchange believes the dissemination of historical depth of book data
via Historical Depth Reports benefits investors through increased
transparency and may promote better informed trading, as well as
research and studies of the options industry. Nevertheless, the
Exchange notes that such data is not necessary for trading and as noted
above, is entirely optional. Moreover, several other exchanges offer a
similar data product which offer the same type of data content through
similar reports.\12\
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\12\ See supra note 4.
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The Exchange also operates in a highly competitive environment.
Indeed, there are currently 17 registered options exchanges that trade
options. Based on publicly available information, no single options
exchange has more than 17% of the market share.\13\ The Commission has
repeatedly expressed its preference for competition over regulatory
intervention in determining prices, products, and services in the
securities markets. Particularly, in Regulation NMS, the Commission
highlighted the importance of market forces in determining prices and
SRO revenues and, also, recognized that current regulation of the
market system ``has been remarkably successful in promoting market
competition in its broader forms that are most important to investors
and listed companies.'' \14\ Making similar data products available to
market participants fosters competition in the marketplace, and
constrains the ability of exchanges to charge supracompetitive fees. In
the event that a market participant views one exchange's data product
as more or less attractive than the competition they can and do switch
between similar products. The proposed fees are a result of the
competitive environment, as the Exchange seeks to adopt fees to attract
purchasers of Historical Depth Reports.
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\13\ See Cboe Global Markets U.S. Options Market Month-to-Date
Volume Summary (October 1, 2024), available at <a href="https://markets.cboe.com/us/options/market_statistics/">https://markets.cboe.com/us/options/market_statistics/</a>.
\14\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 51808 (June 9,
2005), 70 FR 37496, 37499 (June 29, 2005) (``Regulation NMS Adopting
Release'').
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The Exchange believes that the proposed incentive program for any
Member or non-Member who purchases Historical Depth Reports is
reasonable because such purchasers would receive a 20% discount for
purchasing $20,000 or more worth of Historical Depth Reports. The
Exchange believes the proposed discount is reasonable as it will give
purchasers the ability to use and test the Historical Depth Reports at
a discounted rate, prior to purchasing additional months or a monthly
subscription, and will therefore encourage and promote users to
purchase the Historical Depth Reports. Further, the proposed discount
is intended to promote increased use of the Exchange's Historical Depth
Reports by defraying some of the costs a purchaser would ordinarily
have to expend before using the data product. The Exchange believes
that the proposed discount is equitable and not unfairly discriminatory
because it will apply equally to all Members and non-Members who
purchase Historical Depth Reports. Lastly, the purchase of this data
product is discretionary and not compulsory. Indeed, no market
participant is required to purchase the Historical Depth Reports, and
the Exchange is not required to make Historical Depth Reports available
to all investors. Potential purchasers may request the data at any time
if they believe it to be valuable or may decline to purchase such data.
As noted above, the Exchange has previously adopted this discount
program at other times.\15\
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\15\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 99027 (November 28,
2023), 88 FR 84028 (December 1, 2023) (SR-CboeBZX-2023-094) and
Securities Exchange Act Release No. 100371 (June 18, 2024), 89 FR
53140 (June 25, 2024) (SR-CboeBZX-2024-047).
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B. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement on Burden on Competition
The Exchange does not believe that the proposed rule change will
impose any burden on competition that is not necessary or appropriate
in furtherance of the purposes of the Act. The Exchange operates in a
highly competitive environment in which the Exchange must continually
adjust its fees to remain competitive. Because competitors are free to
modify their own fees in response, including the adoption of similar
discounts to those fees, the Exchange believes that the degree to which
fee changes (including discounts and rebates) in this market may impose
any burden on competition is extremely limited. As discussed above, the
Exchange's Historical Depth Reports offering is subject to direct
competition from several other options exchanges that offer similar
data products. Moreover, purchase of Historical Depth Reports is
optional. It is designed to help investors understand underlying market
trends to improve the quality of investment decisions, but is not
necessary to execute a trade.
The proposed rule changes are grounded in the Exchange's efforts to
compete more effectively. In this competitive environment, potential
purchasers are free to choose which, if any, similar product to
purchase to satisfy their need for market information. As a result, the
Exchange believes this proposed rule change permits fair competition
among national securities exchanges. Further, the Exchange believes
that these changes will not cause any unnecessary or inappropriate
burden on intermarket competition, as the proposed incentive program
applies uniformly to any purchaser of Historical Depth Reports.
C. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement on Comments on the Proposed
Rule Change Received From Members, Participants, or Others
The Exchange neither solicited nor received comments on the
proposed rule change.
III. Date of Effectiveness of the Proposed Rule Change and Timing for
Commission Action
The foregoing rule change has become effective pursuant to Section
19(b)(3)(A)
[[Page 87668]]
of the Act \16\ and paragraph (f) of Rule 19b-4 \17\ thereunder. At any
time within 60 days of the filing of the proposed rule change, the
Commission summarily may temporarily suspend such rule change if it
appears to the Commission that such action is necessary or appropriate
in the public interest, for the protection of investors, or otherwise
in furtherance of the purposes of the Act. If the Commission takes such
action, the Commission will institute proceedings to determine whether
the proposed rule change should be approved or disapproved.
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\16\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A).
\17\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4(f).
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IV. Solicitation of Comments
Interested persons are invited to submit written data, views and
arguments concerning the foregoing, including whether the proposed rule
change is consistent with the Act. Comments may be submitted by any of
the following methods:
Electronic Comments
<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#0371766f662e606c6e6e666d7770437066602d646c75"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="196b6c757c347a7674747c776d6a596a7c7a377e766f">[email protected]</span></a>. Please include
file number SR-CboeBZX-2024-104 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-CboeBZX-2024-104. 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 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-CboeBZX-2024-104 and should
be submitted on or before November 25, 2024.
For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets,
pursuant to delegated authority.\18\
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\18\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(12).
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Sherry R. Haywood,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2024-25535 Filed 11-1-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P
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