Notice2025-17344
Self-Regulatory Organizations; Cboe BYX Exchange, Inc.; Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change To Introduce a Small Retail Broker Hosted Solutions Program and To Update the Existing Eligibility Requirements for the Small Retail Brokerage Distribution Program for the Cboe One Summary Feed and BYX Top Data Feed
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
September 10, 2025
Issuing agencies
Securities and Exchange Commission
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 173 (Wednesday, September 10, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 173 (Wednesday, September 10, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43686-43692]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-17344]
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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
[Release No. 34-103893; File No. SR-CboeBYX-2025-027]
Self-Regulatory Organizations; Cboe BYX Exchange, Inc.; Notice of
Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change To
Introduce a Small Retail Broker Hosted Solutions Program and To Update
the Existing Eligibility Requirements for the Small Retail Brokerage
Distribution Program for the Cboe One Summary Feed and BYX Top Data
Feed
September 5, 2025.
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 August 28, 2025, Cboe BYX Exchange, Inc. (the ``Exchange'' or
``BYX'') 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 BYX Exchange, Inc. (the ``Exchange'' or ``BYX'') proposes to
introduce a Small Retail Broker Hosted Solutions Program and to update
the existing eligibility requirements for the Small Retail Brokerage
Distribution Program for the Cboe One Summary Feed and BYX Top Data
Feed. 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/BYX/">http://markets.cboe.com/us/equities/regulation/rule_filings/BYX/</a>) and at the Exchange's Office of the Secretary.
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 adopt a Small Retail Broker Hosted
Solutions Program (the ``Program'') for BYX Top Data and Cboe One
Summary Data (collectively, the ``Applicable Feeds'').\3\ This Program
will provide fee waivers and lower data costs for both (i) Small Retail
Brokers (as defined herein) that provide the Applicable Feeds to other
Small Retail Brokers via its hosted solutions (the ``Hosting Small
Retail Broker Distributor'') and (ii) the Small Retail Brokers that
receive this data from a Hosting Small Retail Broker Distributor as set
forth herein.
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\3\ The Exchange initially submitted the proposed rule change on
May 8, 2025 (SR-CboeBYX-2025-011). On May 19, 2025, the Exchange
withdrew that filing and submitted SR-CboeBYX-2025-014. On June 30,
2025, the Exchange withdrew that filing and submitted SR-CboeBYX-
2025-017. On August 28, 2025 the Exchange withdrew that filing and
submitted this filing.
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Further, the Exchange proposes to increase the allowed maximum Non-
Professional Data User subscriber count for the existing Small Retail
Broker Program for Cboe One Summary Feed and BYX Top Data Feed. By way
of background, the Exchange currently offers the BYX Top Data Feed,
which is a data feed that offers top-of-book quotations and last sale
information based on orders entered into the Exchange's System. The BYX
Top Data Feed benefits investors by facilitating their prompt access to
real-time top-of-book information contained in BYX Top Data. The
Exchange's affiliated equities exchanges (i.e., Cboe EDGA, Inc.
(``EDGA''), Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. (``BZX''), and Cboe EDGX Exchange,
Inc. (``EDGX'') (collectively, ``Affiliates'' and together with the
Exchange, ``Cboe Equities Exchanges'') also offer similar top-of-book
data feeds. Particularly, each of the Exchange's Affiliates offer top-
of-book quotation and last sale information based on their own
quotation and trading activity that is substantially similar to the
information provided by the Exchange through the BYX Top Data Feed.
Additionally, the Exchange also offers Cboe One Summary Data Feed that
disseminates, on a real-time basis, the aggregate BBO of all displayed
orders for securities traded on BYX and its Affiliates and also
contains individual last sale information for the BYX and its
Affiliates. The Cboe One Summary Data Feed is created using the data
from the Exchange and its Affiliates' Top data feeds.
Currently, the Exchange offers a Small Retail Broker Distribution
Program \4\ for both Applicable Data Feeds. This program provides a
discounted Distribution Fee of $250/month for BYX Top Data Feed and
$3,500/month for Cboe One Summary Data Feed as well as a discounted
Data Consolidation Fee \5\ of $350/month for Cboe One Summary Data for
eligible participants.\6\ Participants of the existing Small Retail
Broker Distribution Program must be an External Distributor that meets
the following criteria: (i) Distributor is a broker-dealer distributing
the Applicable Feed to Non-Professional Data Users with whom the
broker-dealer has a brokerage relationship; (ii) At least 90% of the
Distributor's total subscriber population must consist of Non-
Professional subscribers, inclusive of any subscribers not receiving
the Applicable Feed; and (iii) Distributor distributes the Applicable
Feed to no more than 5,000 Non-Professional Data
[[Page 43687]]
Users (the Exchange notes that it is proposing to increase this to
10,000 Non-Professional Data Users for Cboe One Summary Data Feed and
BYX Top Data Feed as described further herein).\7\ The Exchange
introduced this program to allow small retail brokers that purchase top
of book market data from the Exchange to benefit from discounted fees
for access to such market data. The Small Retail Broker Distribution
Program reduces the distribution and consolidation fees paid by small
broker-dealers that operate a retail business. In turn, the Small
Retail Broker Distribution Program is intended to increase retail
investor access to real-time U.S. equity quote and trade information,
and allow the Exchange to better compete for this business with
competitors \8\ that offer similar optional products.\9\
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\4\ See Cboe BYX Equities Fee Schedule.
\5\ This fee reflects the value of the aggregation and
consolidation function the Exchange performs in creating the Cboe
One Summary Feed.
\6\ See Cboe BYX Equities Fee Schedule.
\7\ Id.
\8\ Such as NYSE Arca BBO feed or Nasdaq Basic.
\9\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 88221 (February 14,
2020), 85 FR 9904 (February 20, 2020) (SR-CboeBYX-2020-007).
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The Exchange now proposes to create a new Program based on the
proposed eligibility criteria for Small Retail Brokers to specifically
support Small Retail Brokers who are operating platforms on behalf of
other Small Retail Brokers. Based on customer feedback, there are Small
Retail Brokers who would like to provide this data via a hosted
solution as a White Label Service \10\ to other Small Retail Brokers,
who then provide this data to their retail clients (an ``External
Hosted Subscriber'').\11\ Unfortunately, under the existing structure,
both the External Hosted Subscriber and the Hosting Small Retail Broker
Distributor are only eligible for the standard discounted Distribution
Fee (and for Cboe One Summary, the discounted Data Consolidation Fee)
under the existing Small Retail Broker Program. These fees are, in
addition to the standard Professional and Non-Professional User fees.
Therefore, the existing fee structure under the Small Retail Broker
Program does not allow for any additional benefits for Hosting Small
Retail Broker Distributors for providing the valuable service of
operating platforms that External Hosted Subscribers may use for their
clients, and furthermore, does not account for the fact that Hosting
Small Retail Broker Distributors are also billed for the fees of their
External Hosted Subscribers (which Small Retail Brokers under the
original program do not have).
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\10\ A ``White Label Service'' is a type of hosted display
solution in which an External Distributor hosts or maintains a
website or platform on behalf of the External Hosted Subscriber. The
service allows the External Distributor to make the applicable data
(i.e., Cboe One Summary or BYX Top Data) available on a platform
that is branded with the External Hosted Subscriber, or co-branded
with the External Hosted Subscriber and the External Distributor.
The External Distributor maintains control of the application's
data, entitlements and display.
\11\ An External Hosted Subscriber of an Exchange Market Data
product is a Distributor that receives the Exchange Market Data
product from an External Distributor through a hosted display
solution where the External Hosted Subscriber's Users are hosted by
the External Distributor and data is distributed for display use
only to one or more Users outside the External Hosted Subscriber's
own entity. The Exchange proposes to add this definition into its
Fee Schedule.
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Of further note, the Hosting Small Retail Broker Distributor is
responsible for reporting its External Hosted Subscribers and their
users, and ultimately the Hosting Small Retail Broker is responsible
for payment of all data fees for both its External Hosted Subscribers
and itself. While the Exchange is not privy to pass-through costs
between Hosting Small Retail Broker Distributors and External Hosted
Subscribers, this proposed pricing allows Hosting Small Retail Broker
Distributors the freedom to charge or not charge External Hosted
Subscribers while also appropriately charging for a service provided to
an External Hosted Subscriber that is benefitting from an
infrastructure developed and supported by the Hosting Small Retail
Broker Distributor. The Exchange notes that the current Small Retail
Broker Program prevents the Hosting Small Retail Broker Distributor
from packaging this waiver as part of their overall service to their
External Hosted Subscribers (as External Hosted Subscribers would be
billed directly under the existing Small Retail Broker Program).
Additionally, given that External Hosted Subscribers are smaller
relative to other Small Retail Brokers currently participating in the
Program, their ability to subscribe to the Applicable Feeds as Hosting
Small Retail Brokers is likely not feasible. Specifically, the costs of
the Applicable Feeds may themselves make access to data impractical.
Additionally, the costs associated with building and maintain the
technological infrastructure to receive and disseminate data, may make
access to such data impractical. Generally speaking, technology,
infrastructure, and connectivity costs are a significant monetary
investment and require significant human expertise and resources to
maintain. As such, the totality of costs can make access to data
difficult. The Exchange believes, though, that the proposed fees and
the ability to subscribe to the Applicable Feeds as External Hosted
Subscribers will make access to data more feasible. Indeed, the
Exchange anticipates that the retail broker-dealers that would seek to
become External Hosted Subscribers are broker-dealers that do not have
the technological infrastructure in place to ingest and disseminate
data as a Hosting Small Retail Broker, and that are likely to have
smaller client bases and business models not as conducive to making the
investments necessary to become a Hosting Small Retail Broker.
In these regards, the Exchange believes that the proposed program
will incentivize Hosting Small Retail Brokers to offer the Applicable
Feeds to External Hosted Subscribers, thereby making data accessible to
a larger number of broker-dealers and their clients, at an affordable
cost. Specifically, under the proposed program, a Hosting Small Retail
Broker providing the data to at least one External Hosted Subscriber
would be eligible for a credit of its Distribution Fee (a credit of
$250/month for BYX Top Data Feed and a credit of $3,500/month for Cboe
One Summary Feed) that it is normally responsible for under the
existing Small Retail Broker Program. Additionally, the External Hosted
Subscriber shall also receive a waiver of the Distribution Fee (a
credit of $250/month for BYX Top Data Feed and a credit of $3,500/month
for Cboe One Summary Feed). The External Hosted Subscriber will also
receive a waiver of the Data Consolidation Fee for the Cboe One Summary
Data (a credit of $350/month) and in lieu of paying the Non-
Professional User fees, it shall be a set monthly fee of $100 for BYX
Top and $850 for Cboe One Summary Data.\12\ The Professional User fees
shall remain the same. Once an External Hosted Subscriber exceeds the
Non-Professional Data User maximum (no more than 10,000 Non-
Professional Data Users for Cboe One Summary Data and BYX Top Data),
the External Hosted Subscriber shall no longer be eligible for the
program and will be required to directly license with the Exchange for
the Applicable Feed.\13\ The Exchange notes that the 10,000 Non-
Professional Data User count eligibility requirement is looked at on a
firm level (i.e., the counts of the Non-Professional Data Users for
each of the Hosting Small Retail Broker
[[Page 43688]]
Distributor and each of its External Hosted Subscribers will be looked
at separately). Additionally, the Hosting Small Retail Broker
Distributor shall continue to remain eligible for this Program so long
as it has at least one External Hosted Subscriber (i.e., if it has two
External Hosted Subscribers and one External Hosted Subscriber exceeds
the 10,000 Non-Professional Data User threshold, the Hosting Small
Retail Broker Distributor and the other External Hosted Subscriber may
still continue under this Program).
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\12\ As the Program is capped at 10,000 users for Cboe One
Summary Feed and 10,000 for BYX Top Data Feed, this equates to a
maximum, savings of $150 (10,000 Users x 0.025/Non-Professional User
= $250 and $250-100 = $150) for BYX Top Data Feed and $1,650 (10,000
Users x 0.25/Non-Professional = $2,500 and $2,500-850 = $1,650) for
Cboe One Summary Feed.
\13\ The Exchange notes that it will include a clarifying note
in its Fee Schedule to specify that in the event a Hosting Small
Retail Broker Distributor joins this program mid-month, that its
fees shall be prorated for the month based on the initial date of
the subscription; however, the External Hosted Subscriber's fees
shall not be prorated.
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In addition to the changes set forth above, the Exchange also
proposes to modify the existing Small Retail Broker Program for Cboe
One Summary Feed and BYX Top Feed to increase the number of Non-
Professional Data User maximum from 5,000 to 10,000 to be consistent
with the proposed threshold for External Hosted Subscribers. As
previously discussed, the Exchange proposes to also use the cap of
10,000 Non-Professional Data Users for the proposed Program. The
Exchange proposes to increase this in support of increased
participation across both retail and investor markets in order to
facilitate the growth of smaller retail brokers on a global scale.
As mentioned above, the existing fee structure makes it costly for
both Hosting Small Retail Broker Distributors and its External Hosted
Subscribers to provide data to the External Hosted Subscribers' retail
clients as Distribution Fees are assessed on both Small Retail Brokers.
Overall, the Exchange believes that this fee proposal will help to make
its data more widely accessible for retail users who receive their data
from External Hosted Subscribers. Specifically, the Exchange believes
that that this proposal will (i) further increase the competitiveness
of the Exchange's top of book market data products compared to
competitor offerings that may currently be cheaper for firms with a
limited subscriber base that do not yet have the scale to take
advantage of the lower subscriber fees offered by the Exchange; and
will (ii) provide additional incentives for Hosting Small Retail Broker
Distributors to provide hosted solution services for other Small Retail
Brokers in order to make data more widely available to retail
investors. In turn, the Exchange believes that this change may benefit
market participants and investors by spurring additional competition
and increasing the accessibility of the Exchange's top of book data.
The Exchange notes that at least one other exchange has a similar
offering. For example, the New York Stock Exchange has a Redistribution
Fee Waiver for NYSE Trades, for which redistributors of data may have
their redistribution fee waived so long as they provide the data to at
least one data feed recipient and reports such data feed recipient or
recipients to the Exchange.\14\ Additionally, the Access Fee that is
charged is reduced by more than 93% for redistributors of NYSE BBO and
NYSE Trades that subscribe to only such data feeds and do not subscribe
to any other market data product listed on the Fee Schedule other than
NYSE BQT, and/or the NYSE OpenBook data feed, and/or the NYSE
Aggregated Lite data feed, and/or the NYSE Pillar Depth data feed, and
such market data products are used in a display-only format for
internal or external use only.\15\ This means that a redistributor that
meets the above requirements will both (i) pay a Per User Access Fee
\16\ and (ii) have its redistribution fee waived. A Redistributor that
receives a data feed of NYSE BBO and NYSE Trades and uses the market
data products for any other purpose (such as internal use) or that
subscribes to any other products listed on the Fee Schedule (other than
NYSE BQT, and/or the NYSE OpenBook data feed, and/or the NYSE
Aggregated Lite data feed, and/or the NYSE Pillar Depth data feed)
would continue to pay the $1,500 per month General Access Fee (as
opposed to the lower Per User Access Fee).\17\ Accordingly, the fee
changes are not designed for redistributors that are existing customers
of specific NYSE market data products, that use NYSE BQT for internal
purposes, or if the data is provided as non-display. The fee reductions
in NYSE BBO and NYSE Trades are intended to incentive eligible
redistributors to subscribe to the NYSE BQT data feeds so that such
product would be available to their customers, which have expressed an
interest in subscribing to NYSE BQT.\18\ The Exchange notes that these
same discounts exists for NYSE Americas and NYSE Arca as well.\19\
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\14\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 90407 (November 12,
2020), 85 FR 73570 (November 18, 2020) (SR-NYSE-2020-91).
\15\ See NYSE Proprietary Market Data Fees. The Exchange notes
that NYSE American and NYSE Arca also implement this same incentive.
\16\ The Exchange notes that this is the equivalent to the fixed
Non-Professional User charge it has proposed for the External Hosted
Subscriber under the Program.
\17\ See supra note 12.
\18\ Id.
\19\ See e.g., NYSE Americas Proprietary Market Data Fees.
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Without these discounts, a redistributor of NYSE Trades would pay
the General Access Fee of $1,500/month in addition to the
Redistribution Fee of $1,000/month and the applicable Professional User
Fee ($4/month/User) and Non-Professional User Fee ($0.20/month/
User).\20\ Under these discounts, that same redistributor now only pays
the Per User Access Fee of $100/month.\21\ The Exchange notes that in
order to receive the NYSE BQT data feed (which is comparable to the
Cboe One Summary Feed), a subscriber must pay the applicable fees for
the following data feeds: NYSE BBO, NYSE Trades, NYSE Arca BBO, NYSE
Arca Trades, NYSE American BBO, NYSE American Trades, NYSE National
BBO, NYSE National Trades, NYSE Texas BBO and NYSE Texas Trades.\22\
The cost of the Per User Access fees for each of these applicable data
feeds (including NYSE BQT) totals $850, the equivalent to the Cboe One
Summary proposed fee.
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\20\ See NYSE Proprietary Market Data Fees.
\21\ Id.
\22\ Id.
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While the eligibility requirements of the NYSE program and the
proposed Program differ, both programs are intended to incentivize
redistribution of applicable data feeds by providing enhanced discounts
and both programs target different segments for a specific purpose. The
proposed discounts under this Program are intended to make the
Exchange's offering competitively priced relative to alternative
options that participants may have.
Without the proposed pricing discounts, the Exchange believes that
(i) prospective customers may not be interested in purchasing top of
book data from the Exchange, and may instead purchase such data from
other national securities exchanges or the SIPs, potentially at a
higher cost than would be available pursuant to the proposed program
and (ii) that Hosting Small Retail Broker Distributors are not
incentivized to make the Applicable Feeds available via a hosted
solution for retail investors of its External Hosted Subscribers.
Similar to the existing Small Retail Broker Program, the Exchange
believes that this Program will continue to increase competition for
such market data, and that enhanced competition could help to further
reduce data fees as providers compete for subscribers, as well as help
diversify the availability and quality of data offerings available to
retail investors through their Hosting Small Retail Broker
Distributors. Ultimately, the Exchange believes that it is critical
that it be allowed to compete by offering attractive pricing to
customers as increasing the availability of such products ensures
continued competition
[[Page 43689]]
with alternative offerings. Such competition may be constrained when
competitors are impeded from offering alternative and cost-effective
solutions to customers.
2. Statutory Basis
The Exchange believes that the proposed rule change is consistent
with the objectives of Section 6 of the Act,\23\ in general, and
furthers the objectives of Section 6(b)(4),\24\ in particular, as it is
designed to provide for the equitable allocation of reasonable dues,
fees and other charges among its members and other recipients of
Exchange data.
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\23\ 15 U.S.C. 78f.
\24\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(4).
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The Exchange also believes that the proposed rule change is
consistent with Section 11(A) of the Act.\25\ Specifically, the
proposed rule change supports (i) fair competition among brokers and
dealers, among exchange markets, and between exchange markets and
markets other than exchange markets, and (ii) the availability to
brokers, dealers, and investors of information with respect to
quotations for and transactions in securities. In addition, the
proposed rule change is consistent with Rule 603 of Regulation NMS,\26\
which provides that any national securities exchange that distributes
information with respect to quotations for or transactions in an NMS
stock do so on terms that are not unreasonably discriminatory.
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\25\ 15 U.S.C. 78k-1.
\26\ See 17 CFR 242.603.
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In adopting Regulation NMS, the Commission granted 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 change would further broaden
the availability of U.S. equity market data to investors, and in
particular retail investors, consistent with the principles of
Regulation NMS.
The Exchange operates in a highly competitive environment. Indeed,
there are sixteen registered national securities exchanges that trade
U.S. equities and offer associated top of book market data products to
their customers. The national securities exchanges also compete with
the SIPs for market data customers. The Commission has repeatedly
expressed its preference for competition over regulatory intervention
in determining prices, products, and services in the securities
markets. Specifically, in Regulation NMS, the Commission highlighted
the importance of market forces in determining prices and SRO revenues
and, also, recognized that current regulation of the market system
``has been remarkably successful in promoting market competition in its
broader forms that are most important to investors and listed
companies.'' \27\ The proposed fee change is a result of the
competitive environment, as the Exchange seeks to amend its fees to
attract additional subscribers for its proprietary top of book data
offerings.
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\27\ 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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Making alternative data products available to market participants
ultimately ensures increased competition in the marketplace, and
constrains the ability of exchanges to charge prohibitive fees. In the
event that a market participant views one exchange's top of book data
fees as more or less attractive than the competition they can, and
frequently do, switch between competing products. In fact, the
competitiveness of the market for such top of book data products is one
of the primary factors animating this proposed rule change, which is
designed to allow the Exchange to further compete for this business. As
mentioned above, at least one other Exchange provides a similar waiver
for redistribution of market data.\28\
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\28\ See supra note 8.
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The Exchange notes that the Applicable Feeds are distributed and
purchased on a voluntary basis, in that neither the Exchange nor market
data distributors are required by any rule or regulation to make these
data products available. Distributors (including vendors) and Users can
therefore discontinue use at any time and for any reason, including due
to an assessment of the reasonableness of fees charged. Further, the
Exchange is not required to make any proprietary data products
available or to offer any specific pricing alternatives to any
customers.
The Commission has long stressed the need to ensure that the
equities markets are structured in a way that meets the needs of
ordinary investors. For example, the Commission's strategic plan for
fiscal years 2018-2022 touts ``focus on the long-term interests of our
Main Street investors'' as the Commission's number one strategic
goal.\29\ The Program would be consistent with the Commission's stated
goal of improving the retail investor experience in the public markets.
Furthermore, national securities exchanges commonly charge reduced fees
and offer market structure benefits to retail investors, and the
Commission has consistently held that such incentives are consistent
with the Act. The Exchange believes that the Program is consistent with
longstanding precedent indicating that it is consistent with the Act to
provide reasonable incentives to retail investors that rely on the
public markets for their investment needs.
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\29\ See U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Strategic
Plan, Fiscal Years 2018-2022, available at <a href="https://www.sec.gov/files/SEC_Strategic_Plan_FY18-FY22_FINAL_0.pdf">https://www.sec.gov/files/SEC_Strategic_Plan_FY18-FY22_FINAL_0.pdf</a>.
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The Exchange proposes that the proposed waivers for the Applicable
Feeds only apply to Hosting Small Retail Broker Distributors and its
External Hosted Subscribers for three reasons. First, the Hosting Small
Retail Broker Distributor is creating a full-service offering for
External Hosted Subscribers in contrast to the Small Retail Brokers
under the current Program, which only provide services directly to its
own retail clients. Maintaining an additional platform for External
Hosted Subscribers' clients is an additional workstream for Hosted
Subscribers (in contrast to Small Retail Brokers that only provide data
and services directly to their retail clients) as they support
additional ecosystems of business, each with its own book of retail
clients. In order to incentivize the Hosting Small Retail Broker
Distributors to take on the additional duties associated with hosting
External Hosted Subscribers (such as managing the data, entitlements,
and display of the application provided to the External Hosted
Subscriber), the Exchange believes it is not unfairly discriminatory to
provide a waiver of the Distribution Fee for the Hosting Small Retail
Broker, as opposed to the standard discounted Distribution Fee it would
normally pay under the Small Retail Broker Program.
Second, by creating this program, the Exchange is further able to
reach additional retail investors. By waiving Distribution Fees for
both the Hosting Small Retail Broker Distributor and its External
Hosted Subscriber, both parties are incentivized to work together to
provide data to retail investors. Third, as mentioned previously, the
Hosting Small Retail Broker is responsible for the fees and reporting
for both its own activity and that of its External Hosted Subscriber.
While the Exchange is not privy to pass-through costs between Hosting
Small Retail Broker Distributors and External Hosted Subscribers, this
proposed pricing allows Hosting Small Retail Broker Distributors the
freedom to charge or not charge External Hosted Subscribers while also
appropriately charging for a service provided to an
[[Page 43690]]
External Hosted Subscriber that is benefitting from an infrastructure
developed and supported by the Hosting Small Retail Broker Distributor.
The Exchange notes that the current Small Retail Broker Program
prevents the Hosting Small Retail Broker Distributor from packaging
this waiver as part of their overall service to their External Hosted
Subscribers (as External Hosted Subscribers would be billed directly
under the existing Small Retail Broker Program). Given that External
Hosted Subscribers are smaller relative to other Small Retail Brokers
currently participating in the Program, these costs associated with the
Applicable Feeds are inherently prohibitive to the External Hosted
Subscriber. Through this program, fees will not be a deterrent for
Hosting Small Retail Brokers and External Hosted Subscribers to
establish platforms that reach a wider scope of retail investors.
Furthermore, while this Program would be effectively limited to
smaller firms in accordance with the proposed eligibility requirements,
the Exchange does not believe that this limitation makes the fees
inequitable or unfairly discriminatory. The Exchange notes that large
broker-dealers and/or vendors that distribute the Exchange's data
products to a sizeable number of investors benefit from the current fee
structure, which includes lower subscriber fees and Enterprise
licenses. Due to lower subscriber fees, distributors that provide the
Applicable Feeds to more than the proposed capped amounts of Users
permitted under either the Small Retail Broker Program or this Program
already enjoy cost savings compared to competitor products. The
Program, in addition to the existing Small Retail Broker Program, would
therefore continue to ensure that small retail brokers that distribute
top of book data to their retail investor customers could also benefit
from reduced pricing, and would aid in increasing the competitiveness
of the Exchange's data products for this key segment of the market.
Moreover, the Exchange does not believe that the proposed fees
unfairly discriminate between Hosting Small Retail Brokers and External
Hosted Subscribers. While the proposal provides additional benefits to
External Hosted Subscribers that would not otherwise accrue to them
under the current program, the Exchange notes that such benefits are
designed only to make access to market data more accessible to smaller
retail broker-dealers that either do not possess the financial and
technological resources necessary to receive data as a Small Retail
Broker, or simply choose not commit such resourced based on their
business models. In turn, to continue to incentive the provision of the
Applicable Feeds by Hosting Small Retail Brokers, the Exchange has
sought to provide appropriate incentives to these brokers as well.
Collectively, the fee structure provides benefits to both Hosting Small
Retail Brokers and External Hosted Subscribers.
While External Hosted Subscribers would receive benefits they would
not accrue under the current program, these are not benefits that
today's Small Retail Brokers would choose to avail themselves of under
the new fee structure, because it is highly unlikely that today's Small
Retail Brokers would choose to instead become External Hosted
Subscribers. The Exchange notes that today's Small Retail Brokers that
qualify under the current program, have already committed significant
capital in terms of time, technology, and finances towards building out
and maintaining the technological infrastructure and staffing needed to
receive and distribute the Applicable Feeds to their end users. To
forego such financial and technological commitments simply to avail
themselves of additional benefits afforded to External Hosted
Subscribers under this proposal, would very likely require an existing
Small Retail Broker to drastically change their current business model
simply to avail themselves of the additional benefits provided to
External Hosted Subscribers. Moreover, today's existing Small Retail
Brokers are likely to be providing services to their subscribers other
than the Additional Feeds, such as market access, order management
systems, and other trading tools. To cease providing such a full suite
of services--which required significant time and cost contributions--is
unlikely and, again, would require a significant reversal in a Small
Retail Broker's business model.
Rather, the Exchange believes that the more likely case is that the
proposed fee structure will attract a new population of Small Retail
Brokers who will seek to access the Applicable Feeds as Hosted External
Subscribers, at a cost-effective price point, thereby providing even
more investors with access to top of book market data for U.S.
equities. Another likely use case is that the proposed fee structure
may incentivize more Small Retail Brokers to subscribe to the
Applicable Feeds as External Hosted Subscribers and, as they build
their own business models and attract subscribers of their own,
eventually commit time and resources to building their own
infrastructure to evolve into a Hosting Small Retail Broker.
Finally, the Exchange notes that nothing in the current proposal
prevents an existing Small Retail Broker from choosing to instead
subscribe to the Applicable Feeds as an External Hosted Subscriber.
However, the Exchange does not believe that this makes the proposal
unfairly discriminatory between Hosting Small Retail Brokers and
External Hosted Subscribers, as broker-dealers are free operate their
businesses however they may choose in response to a host of a reasons,
only one of which are associated costs.
The Exchange believes that the proposed cap of 10,000 for the Cboe
One Summary Data Feed and BYX Top Data Feed for this Program, as well
as increasing this cap to 10,0000 for the Cboe One Summary Data Feed
and BYX Top Data Feed for the Small Retail Broker Program is reasonable
and not unfairly discriminatory as the Exchange believes it is in the
best interest of all market participants to more broadly expand this in
support of inclusion for more retail investors by participation in both
programs by small retail brokers on a global scale.
Distribution Fee Waiver
The Exchange believes that the Distribution Fee Waivers for both
the External Hosted Subscriber and the Hosting Small Retail Broker
Distributor are reasonable as they represent a significant cost
reduction for the Hosting Small Retail Broker Distributor to provide a
hosted solution for the External Hosted Subscriber, to ultimately
provide the data to the External Hosted Subscriber's retail investors.
While the existing fee structure does provide a benefit of a discounted
waiver for Small Retail Brokers that externally distribute the data,
these discounted Distribution Fees are still incurred by both the
External Hosted Subscriber and the Hosting Small Retail Broker
Distributor. In an attempt to alleviate these costs, and make this data
more available to retail investors, the Exchange proposes to waive the
Distribution Fees for both the Hosting Small Retail Broker Distributor
and the External Hosted Subscriber. With this Program, the Exchange
believes it will increase market accessibility and data to investors on
a global scale. Exchange Hosted Subscribers may not have the
infrastructure or technical capabilities to offer market data and/or
execution services to its retail investors. Through waiving these fees
for the External Hosted Subscriber, the Exchange hopes to reach a
broader scale of retail
[[Page 43691]]
investors globally. Further, as discussed above, the Exchange also
believes it is appropriate and not unfairly discriminatory to limit
this specific credit to the External Hosted Subscriber and the Hosting
Small Retail Broker Distributor given the development and maintenance
the Hosting Small Retail Broker Distributor acquires to provide this
data to the External Hosted Subscriber's end users.
Data Consolidation Fee Waiver
The Exchange believes it is reasonable to not charge the External
Hosted Subscriber the Data Consolidation Fee for Cboe One Summary Data
for the duration of the time that they are eligible for this program.
As previously discussed, the waiver of fees for the External Hosted
Subscriber is intended to make this data more available to retail
investors. The Exchange also believes it is appropriate and not
unfairly discriminatory to limit this specific credit to the External
Hosted Subscriber because, as described above, the Exchange believes by
alleviating some of the barriers to entry, that Exchange Hosted
Subscribers are able to bring this data and execution services to their
retail investors. Of further note, the Exchange believes it is
reasonable to maintain this cost for the Hosting Small Retail Broker
Distributor as the Hosting Small Retail Broker Distributor is the party
receiving this data from the Exchange where it is consolidated for the
benefit of the Hosting Small Retail Broker Distributor.
Fixed Cost of Non-Professional Users
The Exchange believes it is reasonable to set a fixed cost for Non-
Professional Users fees for External Hosted Subscribers by charging a
flat, fixed cost instead of charging per user to allow for additional
savings. Under this structure, the External Hosted Subscriber shall
still be responsible by paying the standard per User fee of a
Professional Users under the Applicable Feed. The Exchange does not
believe this is unfairly discriminatory as the program is based around
making the Applicable Feeds available for Non-Professional Users. The
Exchange also notes that it has taken a similar approach here to the
NYSE Per User Access Fee, which sets a fixed cost where the data is
used only for display purposes.\30\
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\30\ See NYSE Proprietary Market Data Pricing Guide, April 1,
2025.
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B. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement on Burden on Competition
The Exchange does not believe that the proposed rule change would
result in 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, and its ability to price
these data products is constrained by: (i) Competition among exchanges
that offer similar data products to their customers; and (ii) the
existence of inexpensive real-time consolidated data disseminated by
the SIPs. Top of book data is disseminated by both the SIPs and the
sixteen equities exchanges. There are therefore a number of alternative
products available to market participants and investors. In this
competitive environment potential subscribers are free to choose which
competing product to purchase to satisfy their need for market
information. Often, the choice comes down to price, as broker-dealers
or vendors look to purchase the cheapest top of book data product, or
quality, as market participants seek to purchase data that represents
significant market liquidity. In order to better compete for this
segment of the market, the Exchange is proposing to reduce the cost of
top of book data provided by Hosting Small Retail Broker Distributors
to its External Hosted Subscribers, and in turn, their retail
investors. The Exchange believes that this would facilitate greater
access to such data, ultimately benefiting the retail investors that
are provided access to such market data.
The Exchange also believes the proposed fee changes will better
enable it to compete in the Asia Pacific region, which is an area of
increasing interest and growth within the U.S. equities markets,
generally. As the Asia Pacific investor base seeks access to the
liquidity and efficient price discovery processes that exist in the
U.S. equities markets, various broker-dealers have begun offering
trading in this region, and exchanges have begun to contemplate 24-hour
trading solutions designed to capture the increased demand from the
Asia Pacific investor base.\31\ Naturally, U.S. equities market data
will be in demand as Asia Pacific trading increases in the U.S.
markets. Indeed, in formulating its current pricing, the Exchange has
considered the growth in the Asia Pacific reason and has sought to
propose fees that would continue to appeal to the existing Small Retail
Brokers in this region, and that would incentivize additional smaller
retail broker-dealers in this region to subscribe to the Applicable
Feeds as External Hosted Subscribers. In this regard, the Exchange
believes its proposed fees will better enable it to compete in Asia
Pacific, thereby offering competitively priced data products to more
and more investors, at attractive price points.
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\31\ See ``Cboe Announces Plans to Launch 24x5 U.S. Equities
Trading,'' February 3, 2025, available at: <a href="https://ir.cboe.com/news/news-details/2025/Cboe-Announces-Plans-to-Launch-24x5-U.S.-Equities-Trading-2025-NwujmKvsxb/default.aspx">https://ir.cboe.com/news/news-details/2025/Cboe-Announces-Plans-to-Launch-24x5-U.S.-Equities-Trading-2025-NwujmKvsxb/default.aspx</a>, (``[Cboe] continue[s] to hear
from market participants globally--particularly those in Asia
Pacific markets like Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore and
Australia--that they want greater access to U.S. equities trading
and need trusted venues that can offer transparency, robust
liquidity and efficient price discovery,'' said Oliver Sung, Head of
North American Equities at Cboe Global Markets. ``As the world's
largest global exchange operator, Cboe is uniquely positioned to
meet that demand. By leveraging our global infrastructure, leading-
edge technology, and proven experience facilitating around-the-clock
trading in global markets, we believe we can seamlessly support a
24x5 trading model for U.S. equities.''; see also ``Nasdaq's View:
The Road to 24 Hour Trading,'' June 16, 2025, available at: <a href="https://www.nasdaq.com/newsroom/nasdaqs-view-road-24-hour-trading">https://www.nasdaq.com/newsroom/nasdaqs-view-road-24-hour-trading</a>; see also
``The New York Stock Exchange Plans to Extend Weekday Trading on its
NYSE Arca Equities Exchange to 22 Hours a Day,'' October 25, 2024,
available at: <a href="https://ir.theice.com/press/news-details/2024/The-New-York-Stock-Exchange-Plans-to-Extend-Weekday-Trading-on-its-NYSE-Arca-Equities-Exchange-to-22-Hours-a-Day/default.aspx">https://ir.theice.com/press/news-details/2024/The-New-York-Stock-Exchange-Plans-to-Extend-Weekday-Trading-on-its-NYSE-Arca-Equities-Exchange-to-22-Hours-a-Day/default.aspx</a>; see also
``Robinhood 24 Hour Market,'' available at: <a href="https://robinhood.com/us/en/support/articles/24hour-market/">https://robinhood.com/us/en/support/articles/24hour-market/</a>.
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The Exchange does not believe that this price reduction would cause
any unnecessary or inappropriate burden on intermarket competition as
other exchanges and data vendors are free to lower their prices to
better compete with the Exchange's offering. Indeed, as explained in
the basis section of this proposed rule change, the Exchange's decision
to (i) waive the Distribution Fee for the Hosting Small Retail Broker
and the External Hosted Subscriber and (ii) waiving the Consolidation
Fee (when applicable) for the External Hosted Subscriber and (iii)
setting a fixed cost for the Non-Professional Users for the External
Hosted Subscriber is itself a competitive response to different fee
structures available on competing markets. The Exchange therefore
believes that the proposed rule change is pro-competitive as it seeks
to offer pricing incentives to customers to better position the
Exchange as it competes to attract additional market data subscribers.
The Exchange also believes that the proposed reduction in fees the
Hosting Small Retail Broker and the External Hosted Subscriber would
not cause any unnecessary or inappropriate burden on intramarket
competition. Although the proposed fee discount would be largely
limited to small retail broker subscribers, larger broker-dealers and
vendors can already purchase top of book data from the Exchange at
prices that represent a
[[Page 43692]]
significant cost savings when compared to competitor products that
combine higher subscriber fees with lower fees for distribution. In
light of the benefits already provided to this group of subscribers,
the Exchange believes that additional discounts to small retail brokers
would increase rather than decrease competition among broker-dealers
that participate on the Exchange. Furthermore, as discussed earlier in
this proposed rule change, the Exchange believes that offering pricing
benefits to brokers that represent retail investors facilitates the
Commission's mission of protecting ordinary investors, and is therefore
consistent with the Act.
C. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement on Comments on the Proposed
Rule Change Received From Members, Participants, or Others
The Exchange neither solicited nor received comments on the
proposed rule change.
III. Date of Effectiveness of the Proposed Rule Change and Timing for
Commission Action
The foregoing rule change has become effective pursuant to Section
19(b)(3)(A) of the Act \32\ and paragraph (f) of Rule 19b-4 \33\
thereunder. At any time within 60 days of the filing of the proposed
rule change, the Commission summarily may temporarily suspend such rule
change if it appears to the Commission that such action is necessary or
appropriate in the public interest, for the protection of investors, or
otherwise in furtherance of the purposes of the Act. If the Commission
takes such action, the Commission will institute proceedings to
determine whether the proposed rule change should be approved or
disapproved.
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\32\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A).
\33\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4(f).
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IV. Solicitation of Comments
Interested persons are invited to submit written data, views and
arguments concerning the foregoing, including whether the proposed rule
change is consistent with the Act. Comments may be submitted by any of
the following methods:
Electronic Comments
<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#f587809990d8969a9898909b8186b5869096db929a83"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="7604031a135b15191b1b131802053605131558111900">[email protected]</span></a>. Please include
file number SR-CboeBYX-2025-027 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-CboeBYX-2025-027. 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 filing 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-CboeBYX-2025-027 and
should be submitted on or before October 1, 2025.
For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets,
pursuant to delegated authority.\34\
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\34\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(12).
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Sherry R. Haywood,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2025-17344 Filed 9-9-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P
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