Notice2026-00802

Self-Regulatory Organizations; Miami International Securities Exchange, LLC; Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change To Amend the MIAX Options Exchange Fee Schedule To Amend Non-Transaction Fees

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
January 16, 2026

Issuing agencies

Securities and Exchange Commission

Full Text

<html>
<head>
<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 11 (Friday, January 16, 2026)</title>
</head>
<body><pre>
[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 11 (Friday, January 16, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2195-2209]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-00802]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

[Release No. 34-104589; File No. SR-MIAX-2025-50]


Self-Regulatory Organizations; Miami International Securities 
Exchange, LLC; Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a 
Proposed Rule Change To Amend the MIAX Options Exchange Fee Schedule To 
Amend Non-Transaction Fees

January 13, 2026.
    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 December 31, 2025, Miami International Securities Exchange, LLC 
(``MIAX'' or ``Exchange'') filed with the Securities and Exchange 
Commission (``Commission'') a proposed rule change as described in 
Items I, II, and III below, which Items have been prepared by the 
Exchange. The Commission is publishing this notice to solicit comments 
on the proposed rule change from interested persons.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).
    \2\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

I. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Terms of Substance 
of the Proposed Rule Change

    The Exchange proposes to amend the MIAX Options Exchange Fee 
Schedule (the ``Fee Schedule'') to update various non-transaction fees 
that have not been changed in a number of years to be comparable to 
fees charged by other like exchanges for similar products.
    The text of the proposed rule change is available on the Exchange's 
website at <a href="https://www.miaxglobal.com/markets/us-options/all-options-exchanges/rule-filings">https://www.miaxglobal.com/markets/us-options/all-options-exchanges/rule-filings</a> and at MIAX's principal office.

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 first launched operations in December 2012 to attract 
order flow and encourage market participants to experience the high 
determinism and resiliency of the Exchange's trading Systems.\3\ To do 
so, the Exchange chose to waive the fees for some non-transaction 
related services or provide them at a very marginal cost, which was not 
profitable to the Exchange. This resulted in the Exchange forgoing 
revenue it could have generated from assessing higher fees. The 
Exchange now proposes to amend various fees for non-transaction related 
services to be in line with those of its peer exchanges and enable it 
to continue to effectively compete with other options exchanges who 
charge higher non-transaction fees and generate greater revenue. This 
proposal simply seeks to increase certain fees to reflect current 
market rates. The Exchange notes that significant portion of the fees 
for non-transaction related services that are the subject of this 
filing have not been increased since 2015.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \3\ The term ``System'' means the automated trading system used 
by the Exchange for the trading of securities. See Exchange Rule 
100.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Specifically, the Exchange proposes to amend the Fee Schedule to 
amend the following non-transaction fees: (1) monthly Trading Permit 
\4\ fees applicable to Electronic Exchange Members (``EEMs'') \5\ and 
Market Makers; \6\ (2) connectivity fees to the primary/secondary 
facility and disaster recovery facility for Members \7\ and non-
Members; and (3) FIX,\8\ MEI,\9\ Purge,\10\ and FXD \11\ Port fees.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \4\ The term ``Trading Permit'' means a permit issued by the 
Exchange that confers the ability to transact on the Exchange. See 
Exchange Rule 100.
    \5\ The term ``Electronic Exchange Member'' or ``EEM'' means the 
holder of a Trading Permit who is not a Market Maker. Electronic 
Exchange Members are deemed ``members'' under the Exchange Act. See 
Exchange Rule 100.
    \6\ The term ``Market Makers'' refers to ``Lead Market Makers,'' 
``Primary Lead Market Makers,'' and ``Registered Market Makers'' 
collectively. See Exchange Rule 100.
    \7\ The term ``Member'' means an individual or organization 
approved to exercise the trading rights associated with a Trading 
Permit. Members are deemed ``members'' under the Exchange Act. See 
Exchange Rule 100.
    \8\ A FIX Port is an interface with MIAX systems that enables 
the Port user (typically an Electronic Exchange Member or a Market 
Maker) to submit simple and complex orders electronically to MIAX. 
See Fee Schedule, Section 5)d), footnote 24.
    \9\ MIAX Express Interface is a connection to MIAX systems that 
enables Market Makers to submit simple and complex electronic quotes 
to MIAX. See Fee Schedule, Section 5)d), footnote 26. Full Service 
MEI Ports provide Market Makers with the ability to send Market 
Maker simple and complex quotes, eQuotes, and quote purge messages 
to the MIAX System. Full Service MEI Ports are also capable of 
receiving administrative information. Market Makers are limited to 
two Full Service MEI Ports per matching engine. See Fee Schedule, 
Section 5)d), footnote 27. Limited Service MEI Ports provide Market 
Makers with the ability to send simple and complex eQuotes and quote 
purge messages only, but not Market Maker Quotes, to the MIAX 
System. Limited Service MEI Ports are also capable of receiving 
administrative information. Market Makers initially receive four 
Limited Service MEI Ports per matching engine. See Fee Schedule, 
Section 5)d), footnote 28.
    \10\ Purge Ports provide Market Makers with the ability to send 
quote purge messages to the MIAX System. Purge Ports are not capable 
of sending or receiving any other type of messages or information. 
See Fee Schedule, Section 5)d), footnote 30.
    \11\ The FIX Drop Copy Port (``FXD'') is a messaging interface 
that will provide a copy of real-time trade execution, trade 
correction and trade cancellation information for simple and complex 
orders to FIX Drop Copy Port users who subscribe to the service. FIX 
Drop Copy Port users are those users who are designated by an EEM to 
receive the information and the information is restricted for use by 
the EEM only. FXD Port Fees will be assessed in any month the Member 
is credentialed to use the FXD Port in the production environment. 
See Fee Schedule, Section 5)d)iv).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Monthly Trading Permit Fees
    The Exchange proposes to amend the Fee Schedule to amend the amount 
of the monthly Trading Permit fees assessed to EEMs and Market Makers.
EEMs
    The Exchange notes that Trading Permit fees for EEMs have not been 
amended since January 1, 2015.\12\ The Exchange assesses a flat monthly 
fee of $1,500 per Trading Permit to each EEM. The Exchange now proposes 
to increase the monthly Trading Permit fee assessed to EEMs from $1,500 
to $2,000.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \12\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 73957 (December 30, 
2014), 80 FR 593 (January 6, 2015) (SR-MIAX-2014-68).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Market Makers
    The monthly Trading Permit fees for Market Makers have not been 
amended since May 1, 2015.\13\ Currently, the

[[Page 2196]]

Exchange assesses monthly Trading Permit fees to Market Makers based on 
the lesser of either the per class basis or percentage of total 
national average daily volume (``ADV'') measurements. The amount of the 
monthly Trading Permit fee is based upon the number of classes in which 
the Market Maker was assigned to quote on any given day within the 
calendar month, or upon class volume percentages. The Exchange will 
assess MIAX Market Makers the monthly Trading Permit fee based on the 
greatest number of classes listed on MIAX that the Market Maker was 
assigned to quote in on any given day within a calendar month.\14\ The 
class volume percentage is based on the total national ADV in classes 
listed on MIAX in the prior calendar quarter. Newly listed option 
classes are excluded from the calculation of the monthly Trading Permit 
fee until the calendar quarter following their listing, at which time 
the newly listed option classes will be included in both the per class 
count and the percentage of total national average daily volume.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \13\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 74856 (May 1, 
2015), 80 FR 26304 (May 7, 2015) (SR-MIAX-2015-31). The Exchange 
notes that in 2018 the Exchange filed to establish a lower Trading 
Permit fee rate for Market Makers that were willing to quote the 
entire Exchange market (or a substantial amount of the Exchange 
market), as objectively measure by either the number of classes 
assigned or national average daily volume, but who did not otherwise 
execute a significant amount of volume on the Exchange. See 
Securities Exchange Act Release No. 82868 (March 13, 2018), 83 FR 
12063 (March 19, 2018) (SR-MIAX-2018-08); see, generally, Fee 
Schedule, Section 3)b), footnote ``*''. However, the standard 
monthly Trading Permit fee rates have remain unchanged since 2015.
    \14\ Pursuant to Exchange Rule 602(a), the Board or a committee 
designated by the Board shall appoint Market Makers to one or more 
classes of option contracts traded on the Exchange based on several 
factors described in the Rule in the best interest of the Exchange 
to provide competitive markets.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Currently, the Exchange assess the following Trading Permit fees to 
Market Makers:
    <bullet> $7,000 for Market Maker registrations in up to 10 option 
classes or up to 20% of option classes by national ADV;
    <bullet> $12,000 for Market Maker registrations in up to 40 option 
classes or up to 35% of option classes by ADV;
    <bullet> $17,000 for Market Maker registrations in up to 100 option 
classes or up to 50% of option classes by ADV; and
    <bullet> $22,000 for Market Maker registrations in over 100 option 
classes or over 50% of option classes by ADV up to all option classes 
listed on MIAX.
    The Exchange also assesses an alternative lower Trading Permit fee 
to Market Makers who fall within the 3rd and 4th levels of the Market 
Maker Trading Permit fee table, which levels are described immediately 
above, if certain volume thresholds are met. This alternative lower 
Trading Permit fee for Market Makers is set forth in footnote ``*'' 
that is included in the Market Maker Trading Permit fee table and 
provides that if the Market Maker's total monthly executed volume 
during the relevant month is less than 0.060% of the total monthly 
executed volume reported by OCC in the market maker account type for 
MIAX-listed option classes for that month, then the fee will be $15,500 
instead of the fee otherwise applicable to such level.
    The Exchange now proposes to increase the Trading Permit fees 
assessed to Market Makers, which, as described above, were last amended 
over ten years ago in May 2015. In particular, the Exchange proposes to 
assess the following Trading Permit fees to Market Makers:
    <bullet> $9,500 for Market Maker registrations in up to 10 option 
classes or up to 20% of option classes by national ADV;
    <bullet> $16,000 for Market Maker registrations in up to 40 option 
classes or up to 35% of option classes by ADV;
    <bullet> $23,000 for Market Maker registrations in up to 100 option 
classes or up to 50% of option classes by ADV; and
    <bullet> $29,500 for Market Maker registrations in over 100 option 
classes or over 50% of option classes by ADV up to all option classes 
listed on MIAX.
    The Exchange also proposes to increase the alternative lower 
Trading Permit fee to Market Makers who fall within the 3rd and 4th 
levels of the Market Maker Trading Permit fee table, if certain volume 
thresholds are met, from $15,500 to $16,000 per month by amending the 
footnote ``*'' following the Market Maker Trading Permit fee table for 
these monthly Trading Permit tier levels.
System Connectivity Fees
1Gb and 10Gb Network Connectivity Fees
    Next, the Exchange proposes to amend the Fee Schedule to increase 
connectivity fees to the primary/secondary and disaster recovery 
facilities for Members and non-Members. Currently, the Exchange 
assesses the same amount of connectivity fees to Members and non-
Members that connect to the Exchange's primary/secondary facility and 
disaster recovery facility. In particular, the Exchange assesses the 
following connectivity fees to Members and non-Members:
    <bullet> $1,400 per 1 gigabit (``Gb'') connection to the primary/
secondary facility;
    <bullet> $550 per 1Gb connection to the disaster recovery facility;
    <bullet> $2,750 per 10Gb connection to the disaster recovery 
facility; and
    <bullet> $13,500 per 10Gb ultra-low latency (``ULL'') connection to 
the primary/secondary facility.
    The Exchange notes that the above fees for 1Gb connectivity and 
10Gb to the disaster recovery facility, and 1Gb connectivity to the 
primary/secondary facilities, have not been increased since December 
2019.\15\ The fee for 10Gb ULL connectivity was last increased in 
January 2023.\16\ The Exchange now propose to amend Sections 5)a)-b) of 
the Fee Schedule to increase connectivity fees for Members and non-
Members. In particular, the Exchange proposes to assess the following 
connectivity fees to Members and non-Members:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \15\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 87875 (December 31, 
2019), 85 FR 770 (January 7, 2020) (SR-MIAX-2019-51).
    \16\ See Securities Exchange Act Release Nos. 96629 (January 10, 
2023), 88 FR 2729 (January 17, 2023) (SR-MIAX-2022-50) and 99822 
(March 21, 2024), 89 FR 21337 (March 27, 2024) (SR-MIAX-2024-16) 
(noting that while the proposed fee changes subject to this filing 
were immediately effective, the proposed fee changes had been 
effective since January 1, 2023 pursuant to the Exchange's initially 
filed proposal on December 30, 2022 (i.e., SR-MIAX-2022-50)).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    <bullet> $1,500 per 1Gb connection to the primary/secondary 
facility;
    <bullet> $650 per 1Gb connection to the disaster recovery facility;
    <bullet> $3,500 per 10Gb connection to the disaster recovery 
facility; and
    <bullet> $15,000 per 10Gb ULL connection to the primary/secondary 
facility.
Port Fees
    The Exchange proposes to amend the fees for FIX Ports, Full Service 
MEI Ports, Limited Service MEI Ports, Purge Ports, and FXD Ports. Some 
of these fees have not been increased since they were first adopted in 
2015. Each port provides access to the Exchange's primary and secondary 
data centers as well as its disaster recovery center for a single fee.
FIX Ports
    The Exchange proposes to amend the fees for FIX Ports, which have 
not been increased since January 2017. A FIX Port allows Members to 
submit simple and complex orders electronically to MIAX.\17\ The 
Exchange currently assesses the following monthly FIX Port fees:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \17\ See supra note 8.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    <bullet> $550 for the first FIX Port;
    <bullet> $350 per port for the second to fifth FIX Ports; and
    <bullet> $150 per port for the sixth or more FIX Ports.\18\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \18\ Each FIX Port provides access to all matching engines. See 
Fee Schedule, Section 5)d), note ``[supcaret]''.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Exchange proposes to increase monthly FIX Port fees as follows:

[[Page 2197]]

    <bullet> $700 for the first FIX Port;
    <bullet> $450 per port for the second to fifth FIX Ports; and
    <bullet> $200 per port for the sixth or more FIX Ports.

Full Service MEI Ports

    The Exchange proposes to amend the Full Service MEI Port fees for 
Market Makers, which have not been increased since June 1, 2015.\19\ 
Full Service MEI Ports provide Market Makers with the ability to send 
Market Maker simple and complex quotes, eQuotes, and quote purge 
messages to the MIAX System. Full Service MEI Ports are also capable of 
receiving administrative information.\20\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \19\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 75140 (June 10, 
2015), 80 FR 34480 (June 16, 2015) (SR-MIAX-2015-37).
    \20\ See supra note 9.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Exchange assesses the amount of the monthly Full Service MEI 
Port fees for Market Makers based on the lesser of either the per class 
basis or percentage of total national ADV measurements. The amount of 
the monthly Full Service MEI Port fee is based upon the number of 
classes in which the Market Maker was assigned to quote on any given 
day within the calendar month, or upon class volume percentages. The 
Exchange assesses Market Makers the monthly Full Service MEI Port fee 
based on the greatest number of classes listed on MIAX that the Market 
Maker was assigned to quote in on any given day within a calendar 
month. The class volume percentage is based on the total national ADV 
in classes listed on MIAX in the prior calendar quarter. Newly listed 
option classes are excluded from the calculation of the monthly Full 
Service MEI Port fee until the calendar quarter following their 
listing, at which time the newly listed option classes will be included 
in both the per class count and the percentage of total national 
average daily volume. Specifically, the Exchange assesses the following 
Full Service MEI Port fees to Market Makers:
    <bullet> $5,000 for Market Maker assignments in up to 5 option 
classes or up to 10% of option classes by national ADV;
    <bullet> $10,000 for Market Maker assignments in up to 10 option 
classes or up to 20% of option classes by ADV;
    <bullet> $14,000 for Market Maker assignments in up to 40 option 
classes or up to 35% of option classes by national ADV;
    <bullet> $17,500 for Market Maker assignments in up to 100 option 
classes or up to 50% of option classes by ADV; and
    <bullet> $20,500 for Market Maker assignments in over 100 option 
classes or over 50% of option classes by ADV up to all option classes 
listed on MIAX.
    The Exchange also provides an alternative lower Full Service MEI 
Port fee for Market Makers who fall within the 4th and 5th levels of 
the Market Maker Full Service MEI Port fee table, which levels are 
described directly above, if certain volume thresholds are met. This 
alternative lower Full Service MEI Port fee for Market Makers is set 
forth in footnote ``*'' in the Market Maker Full Service MEI Port fee 
table and provides that if the Market Maker's total monthly executed 
volume during the relevant month is less than 0.060% of the total 
monthly executed volume reported by OCC in the market maker account 
type for MIAX-listed option classes for that month, then the fee will 
be $14,500 instead of the fee otherwise applicable to such level.
    The Exchange now proposes to increase the Full Service MEI Port 
fees assessed to Market Makers as follows:
    <bullet> $6,500 for Market Maker assignments in up to 5 option 
classes or up to 10% of option classes by national ADV;
    <bullet> $13,500 for Market Maker assignments in up to 10 option 
classes or up to 20% of option classes by ADV;
    <bullet> $19,000 for Market Maker assignments in up to 40 option 
classes or up to 35% of option classes by national ADV;
    <bullet> $23,500 for Market Maker assignments in up to 100 option 
classes or up to 50% of option classes by ADV; and
    <bullet> $27,500 for Market Maker assignments in over 100 option 
classes or over 50% of option classes by ADV up to all option classes 
listed on MIAX.
    The Exchange also proposes to decrease the alternative lower Full 
Service MEI Port fee for Market Makers who fall within the 3rd, 4th and 
5th levels of the proposed Market Maker Full Service MEI Port fee 
table, if certain volume thresholds are met, from $14,500 to $13,500 
per month by amending footnote ``*'' following the Market Maker Full 
Service MEI Port fee table.
Limited Service MEI Ports
    The Exchange proposes to amend the fees for Limited Service MEI 
Ports, which provide Market Makers with the ability to send simple and 
complex eQuotes and quote purge messages only, but not Market Maker 
Quotes, to the MIAX System. Limited Service MEI Ports are also capable 
of receiving administrative information. Market Makers currently 
receive four free Limited Service MEI Ports per matching engine.\21\ 
Currently, Market Makers may request additional Limited Service MEI 
Ports for which MIAX will assess Market Makers $275 per month per 
additional Limited Service MEI Port for each matching engine. The 
Exchange proposes to increase the fee for each additional Limited 
Service MEI Port from $275 to $350 per month per additional Limited 
Service MEI Port for each matching engine.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \21\ See supra note 9.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Purge Ports
    The Exchange proposes to amend the fees for Purge Ports, which 
provide Market Makers with the ability to send quote purge messages to 
the MIAX System. Purge Ports are not capable of sending or receiving 
any other type of messages or information.\22\ The Exchange proposes to 
increase the monthly Purge Port fee from $300 per matching engine to 
$400 per matching engine.\23\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \22\ See supra note 10.
    \23\ A Market Maker may request and be allocated two (2) Purge 
Ports per matching engine to which it connects via a Full Service 
MEI Port and will be charged the monthly fee per Matching Engine. 
See Fee Schedule, Section 5)d)ii).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

FXD Ports
    The Exchange proposes to amend the fees for FXD Ports, which have 
not been increased since they were first adopted in September 2015.\24\ 
A FXD Port means a messaging interface that will provide a copy of 
real-time trade execution, trade correction and trade cancellation 
information for simple and complex orders to FIX Drop Copy Port users 
who subscribe to the service. FXD Port Fees will be assessed in any 
month the Member is credentialed to use the FXD Port in the production 
environment.\25\ The Exchange now proposes to increase the monthly fee 
per FXD Port from $500 to $675.\26\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \24\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 75735 (August 19, 
2015), 80 FR 51641 (August 25, 2015) (SR-MIAX-2015-52).
    \25\ See supra note 11.
    \26\ Each FXD Port provides access to all matching engines. See 
Fee Schedule, Section 5)d)iv), footnote 31.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Implementation
    The Exchange issued an alert publicly announcing the proposed fees 
on October 14, 2025 and a reminder alert on December 19, 2025.\27\ The 
fees

[[Page 2198]]

subject to this proposal are effective beginning January 1, 2026.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \27\ See Fee Change Alert, MIAX Options, Pearl Options and 
Emerald Options--January 1, 2026 Non-Transaction Fee Changes (dated 
October 14, 2025), available at <a href="https://www.miaxglobal.com/alert/2025/10/14/miax-options-pearl-options-and-emerald-options-exchanges-january-1-2026-non-1?nav=all">https://www.miaxglobal.com/alert/2025/10/14/miax-options-pearl-options-and-emerald-options-exchanges-january-1-2026-non-1?nav=all</a> and Fee Change Alert, MIAX Options, 
Pearl Options and Emerald Options Exchanges--Reminder: January 1, 
2026 Non-Transaction Fee Changes (dated December 19, 2025), 
available at <a href="https://www.miaxglobal.com/alert/2025/12/19/miax-options-pearl-options-and-emerald-options-exchanges-reminder-january-1-1?nav=all">https://www.miaxglobal.com/alert/2025/12/19/miax-options-pearl-options-and-emerald-options-exchanges-reminder-january-1-1?nav=all</a>.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Statutory Basis
    The Exchange believes that the proposed rule change is consistent 
with the provisions of Section 6(b) \28\ of the Act in general, and 
furthers the objectives of Section 6(b)(4) \29\ of the Act, in 
particular, in that it is designed to provide for the equitable 
allocation of reasonable dues, fees and other charges among its Members 
and other persons using its facilities. Additionally, the Exchange 
believes that the proposed fees are consistent with the objectives of 
Section 6(b)(5) \30\ of the Act in that they are designed 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 a free and open market and 
national market system, and, in general, to protect investors and the 
public interest, and, particularly, are not designed to permit unfair 
discrimination between customers, issuers, brokers, or dealers.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \28\ 15 U.S.C. 78f.
    \29\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(4).
    \30\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Proposed Fees Are Reasonable and Comparable to the Fees Charged by 
Other Exchanges for Similar Products and Services
    Overall. The proposed fees are comparable to those of other options 
exchanges. Based on publicly-available information, no single exchange 
had more than approximately 11.21% equity options market share for 
2025,\31\ and the Exchange compared the fees proposed herein to the 
fees charged by other options exchanges with similar market share. A 
more detailed discussion of the comparison follows. The Exchange 
assesses the market share \32\ for each of the below referenced options 
markets utilizing total equity options contracts traded in 2025, as set 
forth in the following tables: \33\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \31\ See The OCC, Options Volume by Exchange--2025, available at 
<a href="https://www.theocc.com/market-data/market-data-reports/volume-and-open-interest/volume-by-exchange">https://www.theocc.com/market-data/market-data-reports/volume-and-open-interest/volume-by-exchange</a> (last visited December 1, 2025).
    \32\ Market share is the percentage of volume on a particular 
exchange relative to the total volume across all exchanges, and 
indicates the amount of order flow directed to that exchange. High 
levels of market share enhance the value of trading, ports and 
connectivity. Total contracts include both multi-list options and 
proprietary options products. Proprietary options products are 
products with intellectual property rights that are not multi-
listed.
    \33\ The fee amounts listed in each table provided in the 
Statutory Basis section of this filing that pertain to the Exchange 
are the proposed new rates for each product or service.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

EEM Trading Permit Fees
    The proposed Trading Permit fee for EEMs is comparable to, or lower 
than, the trading permit fees charged by Cboe Exchange, Inc. (``Cboe'') 
and BOX Exchange LLC (``BOX''), as summarized in the table below.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                               Market share
                  Exchange                          (%)           Type of product/service         Monthly fee
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MIAX........................................            7.89  EEM Trading Permit............              $2,000
Cboe \a\....................................           10.51  Electronic Access Permit......               3,000
BOX \b\.....................................            6.96  Participant Fee...............               1,500
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\a\ See Cboe Fee Schedule, Electronic Trading Permit Fees section, page 6, available at <a href="https://cdn.cboe.com/resources/membership/Cboe_FeeSchedule.pdf">https://cdn.cboe.com/resources/membership/Cboe_FeeSchedule.pdf</a>.
\b\ See BOX Fee Schedule, Section I.B., available at <a href="https://boxexchange.com/assets/BOX-Fee-Schedule-as-of-October-1-2025.pdf">https://boxexchange.com/assets/BOX-Fee-Schedule-as-of-October-1-2025.pdf</a>.

    Cboe. Cboe, with a market share of approximately 10.51%, comparable 
to the Exchange, charges higher trading permit fees than the Trading 
Permit fees proposed by the Exchange for EEMs. Cboe's Electronic Access 
Permit is analogous to the Exchange's Trading Permits for EEMs. In 
general, a Trading Permit is a permit issued by the Exchange that 
confers the ability to transact on the Exchange.\34\ EEMs are assessed 
the monthly Trading Permit fee in order to transact on the Exchange on 
behalf of their customers or to conduct proprietary trading. Likewise, 
Cboe's Electronic Access Permits entitle the holder to access Cboe.\35\ 
Like Trading Permit Holders on the Exchange, Electronic Access Permit 
holders must be broker-dealers registered with Cboe and are allowed 
transact on Cboe.\36\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \34\ See Exchange Rule 100.
    \35\ See Cboe Fee Schedule, Electronic Trading Permit Fees 
section, page 6, available at <a href="https://cdn.cboe.com/resources/membership/Cboe_FeeSchedule.pdf">https://cdn.cboe.com/resources/membership/Cboe_FeeSchedule.pdf</a>. The Exchange notes that Cboe 
differentiates between electronic access permits for clearing firms 
and electronic exchange member firms and charges a trading permit 
fee of $2,000 per month for Clearing TPH Permits, which is the same 
rate for a Trading Permit as proposed by the Exchange for EEMs that 
act as Clearing Members. See id. The term ``Clearing Member'' means 
a Member that has been admitted to membership in the Clearing 
Corporation pursuant to the provisions of the rules of the Clearing 
Corporation. See Exchange Rule 100. The term ``Clearing 
Corporation'' means The Options Clearing Corporation (``OCC''). Id.
    \36\ See Cboe Rulebook, Chapter 3, Rules 3.2-3.3.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Exchange recognizes that Cboe has slightly higher market share 
than the Exchange; however, Cboe also charges a higher trading permit 
fee for Electronic Access Permits than the Trading Permit fee proposed 
by the Exchange for EEMs. Cboe charges a flat $3,000 per Electronic 
Access Permit per month, while the Exchange proposes to charge a flat 
$2,000 per EEM Trading Permit per month, lower than Cboe's flat $3,000 
fee.
    BOX. BOX, with a market share of approximately 6.96%, lower than 
the Exchange's market share, charges comparable monthly Participant 
\37\ fees for its Options Participants \38\ as the Trading Permit fee 
proposed by the Exchange for EEMs. BOX's Participant fee is analogous 
to the Exchange's Trading Permit fee, which is a monthly fee in order 
to transact on BOX on behalf of a Participant's customers or to conduct 
proprietary trading.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \37\ The term ``Participant'' means a firm, or organization that 
is registered with BOX pursuant to BOX Rule 2000 Series for purposes 
of participating in trading on a facility of BOX and includes an 
``Options Participant'' and ``BSTX Participant.'' See BOX Rulebook, 
Section 110(a)(42).
    \38\ The term ``Options Participant'' means a Participant 
registered with BOX for purposes of participating in options trading 
on BOX. See BOX Rulebook, Section 110(a)(41).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Despite having lower market share than the Exchange, BOX charges 
comparable permit-type fees as proposed by the Exchange herein for 
EEMs. BOX charges Participants a flat monthly Participant fee of 
$1,500, while the Exchange proposes to charge a flat $2,000 per EEM 
Trading Permit per month, comparable to BOX's flat $1,500 fee.
Market Maker Trading Permit Fees
    The proposed Trading Permit fees for Market Makers are comparable 
to the Trading Permit fees charged by NYSE American LLC (``NYSE 
American''), as summarized in the table below.

[[Page 2199]]



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Exchange                        Market  Type of product/service......................                             Monthly fee
                                 share
                                   (%)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MIAX.........................     7.89  Market Maker Trading Permit..................    $9,500  Up to 10 Classes..............  Up to 20% of Classes by
                                                                                                                                  volume (as a % of
                                                                                                                                  national ADV).
                                                                                         16,000  Up to 40 Classes..............  Up to 35% of Classes by
                                                                                                                                  volume (as a % of
                                                                                                                                  national ADV).
                                                                                         23,000  Up to 100 Classes.............  Up to 50% of Classes by
                                                                                                                                  volume (as a % of
                                                                                                                                  national ADV).
                                                                                         29,500  Over 100 Classes..............  Over 50% of Classes by
                                                                                                                                  volume up to all
                                                                                                                                  Classes on MIAX
                                                                                                                                  Options (as a % of
                                                                                                                                  national ADV).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NYSE American \a\............     7.73  Options Market Maker ATPs....................     8,000  1st ATP: 60 issues plus bottom 45%.
                                                                                          6,000  2nd ATP: 150 issues plus bottom 45%.
                                                                                          5,000  3rd ATP: 500 issues plus bottom 45%.
                                                                                          4,000  4th ATP: 1,100 issues plus bottom 45%.
                                                                                          3,000  5th ATP: all issues traded.
                                                                                          2,000  6th to 9th ATP: all issues traded.
                                                                                            500  10th or more ATPs: all issues traded.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\a\ See NYSE American Options Fee Schedule, Section III.A., available at <a href="https://www.nyse.com/publicdocs/nyse/markets/american-options/NYSE_American_Options_Fee_Schedule.pdf">https://www.nyse.com/publicdocs/nyse/markets/american-options/NYSE_American_Options_Fee_Schedule.pdf</a>.

    NYSE American. NYSE American, with a market share of approximately 
7.73%, comparable to the Exchange's market share, charges similar 
trading permit fees for its market makers as the Trading Permit fees 
proposed by the Exchange for its Market Makers. In general, a Trading 
Permit is a permit issued by the Exchange that confers the ability to 
transact on the Exchange.\39\ Each registered Market Maker is assessed 
a monthly Trading Permit fee in order to appoint a qualified person to 
act as a Registered Option Trader (``ROT'') \40\ pursuant to the 
Exchange's Rules and fulfill the Market Maker's obligations to act as a 
specialist on the Exchange.\41\ NYSE American's market maker ATP \42\ 
fee is analogous to the Exchange's Trading Permit fees for Market 
Makers, which is a monthly fee in order to transact on NYSE American 
for the purpose of making markets in options contracts.\43\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \39\ See Exchange Rule 100.
    \40\ An ROT is permitted to enter quotes and orders only for the 
account of the Market Maker with which he is associated. See 
Exchange Rule 601(a).
    \41\ See, generally, Chapter VI of the Exchange's Rules.
    \42\ An ``ATP'' or ``ATP Holder'' is a registered Broker-Dealer 
who is a permit holder on NYSE American, per NYSE American Rule 
900.2NY(4),(5). See NYSE American Options Fee Schedule, Key Terms 
and Definitions section, available at <a href="https://www.nyse.com/publicdocs/nyse/markets/american-options/NYSE_American_Options_Fee_Schedule.pdf">https://www.nyse.com/publicdocs/nyse/markets/american-options/NYSE_American_Options_Fee_Schedule.pdf</a>.
    \43\ See, generally, NYSE American Rule 923NY.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    NYSE American, with comparable market share as the Exchange, 
charges similar trading permit fees to its ATPs as proposed by the 
Exchange herein for the Exchange's Market Makers. NYSE American charges 
all Options Market Makers \44\ tiered trading permit fees based on the 
number of issues permitted in an Options Market Maker's quoting 
assignment.\45\ In order for an NYSE American Options Market Maker to 
be permitted to quote the entire market of NYSE American, that Options 
Market Maker's total monthly fee would be at least $26,000,\46\ which 
amount could be significantly higher if a market maker purchases six or 
more ATPs, while the Exchange provides tiered Trading Permit fees 
ranging from $9,500 to $29,500 (as proposed), based the lesser of 
either the per class basis or percentage of total national ADV 
measurements. The Exchange offers even greater savings to Market Makers 
as it provides a reduced Trading Permit fee of $16,000 (as proposed) 
for Market Makers if their total monthly executed volume during the 
relevant month is less than 0.060% of the total monthly executed volume 
reported by OCC in the market maker account type for MIAX-listed option 
classes for that month, which still allows these Market Makers to quote 
the entire market (or close to the entire market). NYSE American does 
not offer reduced fees for its Options Market Makers that only quote in 
certain classes compared to those that quote the entire market.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \44\ A ``Market Maker'' refers to an ATP Holder that acts as a 
Market Maker pursuant to NYSE American Rule 920NY and is referred to 
as an ``NYSE AMERICAN Options Market Maker'' in the NYSE American 
Fee Schedule. See NYSE American Options Fee Schedule, Preface, 
available at <a href="https://www.nyse.com/publicdocs/nyse/markets/american-options/NYSE_American_Options_Fee_Schedule.pdf">https://www.nyse.com/publicdocs/nyse/markets/american-options/NYSE_American_Options_Fee_Schedule.pdf</a>.
    \45\ NYSE American charges ATP fees based on the maximum number 
of ATPs held during the month. The ``bottom 45%'' refers to the 
least actively traded issues on NYSE American, ranked by industry 
volume, as reported by the OCC for each issue during the calendar 
quarter. See NYSE American Options Fee Schedule, Section III.A., 
available at <a href="https://www.nyse.com/publicdocs/nyse/markets/american-options/NYSE_American_Options_Fee_Schedule.pdf">https://www.nyse.com/publicdocs/nyse/markets/american-options/NYSE_American_Options_Fee_Schedule.pdf</a>.
    \46\ This was calculated by adding the monthly fees for the 
first five ATPs that a market maker would be required to purchase in 
order to quote the entire NYSE American market (i.e., $8,000 + 
$6,000 + $5,000 + $4,000 + $3,000).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Network Connectivity Fees (Disaster Recovery Facility)
    The proposed network connectivity fees to the Exchange's disaster 
recovery facility for Members and non-Members are comparable to, or 
lower than, the connectivity fees charged by Cboe C2 Exchange, Inc. 
(``Cboe C2'') and MEMX LLC (``MEMX''), as summarized in the table 
below.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                               Market share                                    Monthly fee (per
                  Exchange                          (%)           Type of product/service         connection)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MIAX........................................            7.89  1Gb Connectivity (disaster                    $650
                                                               recovery).                                  3,500
                                                              10Gb Connectivity (disaster
                                                               recovery).
Cboe C2 \a\.................................            2.93  Physical Port 1Gb (disaster                  2,000
                                                               recovery).                                  6,000
                                                              Physical Port 10Gb (disaster
                                                               recovery).
MEMX \b\....................................            3.74  xNet Physical Connection                     3,000
                                                               (Secondary).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\a\ See Cboe C2 Fee Schedule, Physical Connectivity Fees section, available at <a href="https://www.cboe.com/us/options/membership/fee_schedule/ctwo/">https://www.cboe.com/us/options/membership/fee_schedule/ctwo/</a>.
\b\ See MEMX Connectivity Fee Schedule, Physical Connectivity section, available at <a href="https://info.memxtrading.com/connectivity-fees/">https://info.memxtrading.com/connectivity-fees/</a>.


[[Page 2200]]

    Cboe C2. Cboe C2, with a market share of approximately 2.93%, much 
lower than the Exchange's market share, charges higher 1Gb and 10Gb 
connectivity fees to connect to its disaster recovery facility than the 
Exchange proposes to connect to its disaster recovery facility. Cboe 
C2's connectivity fees to connect to its disaster recovery facility are 
analogous to the Exchange's connectivity fees to its disaster recovery 
facility. In general, the disaster recovery facility is a secondary 
data center in a separate, geographically diverse location that 
Exchange participants are able to connect to in order to have 
redundancy for their trading and market data connections in the event 
that the Exchange's primary data center operations are disabled. Cboe 
C2's 1Gb and 10Gb connections to its disaster recovery center allow its 
members to connect to that data center in the event that Cboe C2's 
primary data center is no longer operational.\47\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \47\ See Cboe BCP/DR Plan Highlights, v1.3, page 2, available at 
<a href="https://cdn.cboe.com/resources/membership/Cboe_Corporate_BCP-DR.pdf">https://cdn.cboe.com/resources/membership/Cboe_Corporate_BCP-DR.pdf</a>.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Despite having lower market share than the Exchange, Cboe C2 
charges higher 1Gb and 10Gb connectivity fees to its disaster recovery 
facility than the fees proposed by the Exchange herein for connectivity 
to the Exchange's disaster recovery facility. Cboe C2 charges monthly 
fees of $2,000 per 1Gb connection and $6,000 per 10Gb connection to its 
disaster recovery facility. Meanwhile, the Exchange proposes to charge 
monthly fees of $650 per 1Gb connection and $3,500 per 10Gb connection 
to its disaster recovery facility.
    MEMX. MEMX, with a market share of approximately 3.74%, which is 
lower than the Exchange's market share, charges comparable connectivity 
fees to its disaster recovery facility as the Exchange proposes for 
connectivity to its disaster recovery facility. MEMX's xNet Physical 
Connection to its Secondary Data Center \48\ is analogous to the 
Exchange's 1Gb and 10Gb connections to its disaster recovery facility.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \48\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 100021 (April 24, 
2024), 89 FR 34298 (April 30, 2024) (SR-MEMX-2024-13) (describing 
that the Secondary Data Center is a geographically diverse data 
center, which is operated for backup and disaster recovery 
purposes).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Despite having lower market share than the Exchange, MEMX charges 
similar disaster recovery connectivity fees as the fees proposed by the 
Exchange herein for connectivity to its disaster recovery facility. 
MEMX charges $3,000 per xNet Physical Connection to its Secondary Data 
Center per month. Meanwhile, the Exchange proposes to charge monthly 
fees of $650 per 1Gb connection and $3,500 per 10Gb connection to its 
disaster recovery facility.
Network Connectivity Fees (Primary/Secondary Facility)
    The proposed network connectivity fees to the Exchange's primary 
and secondary facility for Members and non-Members are lower than the 
connectivity fees charged by Nasdaq BX, Inc. (``Nasdaq BX'') and NYSE 
American for connectivity to their primary data centers, as summarized 
in the table below.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                               Market share                                    Monthly fee (per
                  Exchange                          (%)           Type of product/service         connection)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MIAX........................................            7.89  1Gb Connectivity..............              $1,500
                                                              10Gb Connectivity.............              15,000
Nasdaq BX \a\...............................            1.63  1Gb Connection................               2,750
                                                              10Gb Ultra Connection.........              18,500
NYSE American \b\...........................            7.73  10Gb LX LCN Circuit...........              22,000
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\a\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 104261 (November 25, 2025), 90 FR 55209 (December 1, 2025) (SR-BX-
  2025-027).
\b\ See NYSE American Connectivity Fee Schedule, page 12, available at <a href="https://www.nyse.com/publicdocs/nyse/Wireless_Connectivity_Fees_and_Charges.pdf">https://www.nyse.com/publicdocs/nyse/Wireless_Connectivity_Fees_and_Charges.pdf</a>.

    Nasdaq BX. Nasdaq BX, with a market share of approximately 1.63%, 
significantly lower than the Exchange's market share, charges higher 
connectivity fees to its primary data center. Nasdaq BX's 1Gb and 10Gb 
Ultra fiber connection fees are analogous to the Exchange's 1Gb and 
10Gb ULL connectivity fees. In general, the Exchange's 1Gb and 10Gb ULL 
connectivity fees provide Members and non-Members with access to the 
Exchange's primary and secondary facilities (i.e., the live trading 
platforms and market data systems). Nasdaq BX's 1Gb and 10Gb Ultra 
fiber connections provide Nasdaq BX participants with the ability to 
connect directly to Nasdaq BX's trading platforms and market data 
feeds.\49\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \49\ See, generally, Nasdaq Market Connectivity Options web 
page, available at <a href="https://www.nasdaq.com/solutions/nasdaq-co-location">https://www.nasdaq.com/solutions/nasdaq-co-location</a> (last visited November 25, 2025).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Despite having lower market share than the Exchange, Nasdaq BX 
charges higher connectivity fees than the connectivity fees to the 
primary and secondary facilities proposed by the Exchange herein. 
Nasdaq BX charges all participants monthly fees of $2,750 per 1Gb 
connection and $18,500 per 10Gb connection to access its primary data 
center. Meanwhile, the Exchange proposes to charge Members and non-
Members monthly fees of $1,500 per 1Gb connection and $15,000 per 10Gb 
ULL connection to the Exchange's primary and secondary facilities. 
Nasdaq BX charges an additional installation fee for each 1Gb or 10Gb 
connection of $1,650.\50\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \50\ See Nasdaq BX, General 8: Connectivity, Section 1(b), 
Connectivity to the Exchange, available at <a href="https://listingcenter.nasdaq.com/rulebook/bx/rules/BX%20General%208">https://listingcenter.nasdaq.com/rulebook/bx/rules/BX%20General%208</a>.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    NYSE American. NYSE American, with a market share of approximately 
7.73%, comparable to the Exchange's market share, charges higher 10Gb 
connectivity fees to its primary data center. NYSE American's 10Gb LX 
LCN Circuit connection fee is analogous to the Exchange's 10Gb ULL 
connectivity fee. In general, the Exchange's 10Gb ULL connectivity fee 
provides Members and non-Members with access to the Exchange's primary 
and secondary facilities (i.e., the live trading platforms and market 
data systems). NYSE American's 10Gb LX LCN Circuit connection provides 
NYSE American participants with the ability to connect directly to NYSE 
American trading platforms and market data feeds.\51\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \51\ See, generally, NYSE American Connectivity Fee Schedule, 
available at <a href="https://www.nyse.com/publicdocs/nyse/Wireless_Connectivity_Fees_and_Charges.pdf">https://www.nyse.com/publicdocs/nyse/Wireless_Connectivity_Fees_and_Charges.pdf</a>.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Despite having comparable market share as the Exchange, NYSE 
American charges higher connectivity fees as proposed by the Exchange 
herein. NYSE American charges all participants a

[[Page 2201]]

monthly fee of $22,000 per 10Gb LX LCN Circuit connection to access its 
primary data center. Meanwhile, the Exchange proposes to charge Members 
and non-Members a monthly fee of $15,000 per 10Gb ULL connection to the 
Exchange's primary and secondary facilities. NYSE American charges an 
additional installation fee for each 10Gb LX LCN Circuit connection of 
$15,000.\52\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \52\ See id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

FIX Port Fees
    The proposed FIX Port fees are comparable to, or lower than, the 
similar port fees charged by Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. (``Cboe BZX''), 
Cboe C2 and the options trading facility of The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC 
(``Nasdaq''), as summarized in the table below.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                               Market share                                    Monthly fee (per
                  Exchange                          (%)           Type of product/service            port)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MIAX........................................            7.89  1st FIX Port..................                $700
                                                              2nd to 5th FIX Ports..........                 450
                                                              6th or more FIX Ports.........                 200
Cboe BZX \a\................................            4.35  Logical Ports.................                 750
Cboe C2 \b\.................................            2.93  FIX Logical Ports.............                 650
Nasdaq \c\..................................            3.62  FIX Ports.....................                 650
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\a\ See Cboe BZX Fee Schedule, Options Logical Port Fees section, available at <a href="https://www.cboe.com/us/options/membership/fee_schedule/bzx/">https://www.cboe.com/us/options/membership/fee_schedule/bzx/</a>.
\b\ See Cboe C2 Fee Schedule, Logical Connectivity Fees section, available at <a href="https://www.cboe.com/us/options/membership/fee_schedule/ctwo/">https://www.cboe.com/us/options/membership/fee_schedule/ctwo/</a> ctwo/.
\c\ See Nasdaq Options 7 Pricing Schedule, Section 3(i)(1), available at <a href="https://listingcenter.nasdaq.com/rulebook/nasdaq/rules/Nasdaq%20Options%207">https://listingcenter.nasdaq.com/rulebook/nasdaq/rules/Nasdaq%20Options%207</a>.

    Cboe BZX. Cboe BZX, with a market share of approximately 4.35%, 
lower than the Exchange's market share, charges higher Logical Port 
fees than the FIX Port fees proposed by the Exchange. Cboe BZX's 
Logical Ports are analogous to the Exchange's FIX Ports. In general, a 
FIX Port allows an Exchange Member to send simple and complex orders, 
as well as other messages, to the Exchange using the FIX protocol.\53\ 
Cboe BZX's Logical Ports allow for order entry and other messages to be 
sent to Cboe BZX by participants.\54\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \53\ See Fee Schedule, Section 5)d)i), note 24.
    \54\ See, generally, Cboe Titanium U.S. Options FIX 
Specification, Version 2.7.97 (dated October 20, 2025), available at 
<a href="https://cdn.cboe.com/resources/membership/US_Options_FIX_Specification.pdf">https://cdn.cboe.com/resources/membership/US_Options_FIX_Specification.pdf</a>.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Despite having lower market share than the Exchange, Cboe BZX 
charges higher Logical Port fees than the FIX Port fees proposed by the 
Exchange herein. Cboe BZX charges a monthly fee of $750 per Logical 
Port, while the Exchange's highest proposed tier is only $700 per FIX 
Port per month.
    Cboe C2. Cboe C2, with a market share of approximately 2.93%, lower 
than the Exchange's market share, charges comparable FIX Logical Port 
fees as the FIX Port fees proposed by the Exchange. Cboe C2's FIX 
Logical Ports are analogous to the Exchange's FIX Ports. In general, a 
FIX Port allows an Exchange Member to send simple and complex orders 
and other messages to the Exchange using the FIX protocol.\55\ Cboe 
C2's FIX Logical Ports allow for order entry and other messages to be 
sent to Cboe C2 by participants.\56\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \55\ See Fee Schedule, Section 5)d)i), note 24.
    \56\ See, generally, Cboe Titanium U.S. Options FIX 
Specification, Version 2.7.97 (dated October 20, 2025), available at 
<a href="https://cdn.cboe.com/resources/membership/US_Options_FIX_Specification.pdf">https://cdn.cboe.com/resources/membership/US_Options_FIX_Specification.pdf</a>.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Despite having lower market share than the Exchange, Cboe C2 
charges comparable FIX Logical Port fees as proposed by the Exchange 
herein. Cboe C2 charges a monthly fee of $650 per FIX Logical Port, 
while the Exchange's highest proposed tier is $700 per FIX Port per 
month. Cboe C2 FIX Logical Port users may incur an additional monthly 
fee of $650 per port. Cboe C2 provides that for the standard monthly 
fee of $650 per FIX Logical Port, a user may enter up to 70,000 orders 
per trading day per port as measured on average in a single month. 
However, each incremental usage of up to 70,000 per day per FIX Logical 
Port will incur an additional $650 fee per month.\57\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \57\ See Cboe C2 Fee Schedule, Logical Connectivity Fees 
section, available at <a href="https://www.cboe.com/us/options/membership/fee_schedule/ctwo/">https://www.cboe.com/us/options/membership/fee_schedule/ctwo/</a>. Incremental usage is determined on a monthly 
basis based on the average orders per day entered in a single month 
across all of a market participant's subscribed FIX Ports. See id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Nasdaq. Nasdaq, with a market share of approximately 3.62%, which 
is lower than the Exchange's market share, charges comparable FIX Port 
fees as the FIX Port fees proposed by the Exchange. Nasdaq's FIX Ports 
are analogous to the Exchange's FIX Ports in that they that allow 
Nasdaq participants to connect, send, and receive messages related to 
orders to and from Nasdaq, which include the following: (1) execution 
messages; (2) order messages; and (3) risk protection triggers and 
cancel notifications.\58\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \58\ See Nasdaq Options 3 Options Trading Rules, Section 
7(e)(1)(A).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Nasdaq charges participants $650 per FIX Port per month, while the 
Exchange's highest proposed tier is $700 per FIX Port per month. 
Despite having lower market share than the Exchange, Nasdaq charges 
comparable FIX Port fees as proposed by the Exchange herein.
Limited Service MEI Port Fees
    The proposed Limited Service MEI Port (``LSPs'') fees are 
comparable to, or lower than, the similar port fees charged by Nasdaq 
and Nasdaq MRX, LLC (``Nasdaq MRX''), as summarized in the table below.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                               Market share                                    Monthly fee (per
                  Exchange                          (%)           Type of product/service            port)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MIAX........................................            7.89  Limited Service MEI Port......                $350
Nasdaq \a\..................................            3.62  QUO Ports.....................                 750
Nasdaq MRX \b\..............................            3.36  OTTO Ports....................                 650
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\a\ See Nasdaq, Options 7: Pricing Schedule, Section 3(i)(4), available at <a href="https://listingcenter.nasdaq.com/rulebook/nasdaq/rules/Nasdaq%20Options%207">https://listingcenter.nasdaq.com/rulebook/nasdaq/rules/Nasdaq%20Options%207</a>.

[[Page 2202]]

 
\b\ See Nasdaq MRX, Options 7: Pricing Schedule, Section 6(i)(4), available at <a href="https://listingcenter.nasdaq.com/rulebook/mrx/rules/MRX%20Options%207">https://listingcenter.nasdaq.com/rulebook/mrx/rules/MRX%20Options%207</a>.

    Nasdaq. Nasdaq, with a market share of approximately 3.62%, lower 
than the Exchange's market share, charges higher Quote Using Order 
(``QUO'') Port fees than the Limited Service MEI Port fees proposed by 
the Exchange. The Exchange acknowledges differences between the 
functionality of its LSPs and that of Nasdaq's QUO Ports; however, the 
Exchange believes that the fee comparison between LSPs and QUO Ports is 
relevant as both ports provide a limited subset of functionality as 
provided by other ports offered by both the Exchange and Nasdaq. In 
general, Limited Service MEI Ports support all MEI Interface \59\ input 
message types,\60\ but do not support bulk Quote entry.\61\ 
Notifications sent over LSPs between market participants and the 
Exchange may include the following information: (1) execution 
notifications, cancel notifications, stock leg execution notifications, 
and order notifications; (2) administrative messages (i.e., series 
updates); (3) risk protection settings and notification updates; and 
(4) trading status notifications (i.e., halted).\62\ Nasdaq's QUO Ports 
allow Nasdaq market makers to connect, send, and receive messages 
related to single-sided orders to and from Nasdaq.\63\ Messages sent 
over QUO Ports may include the following: (1) options symbol directory 
messages (e.g., underlying); (2) system event messages (e.g., start of 
trading hours messages and start of opening); (3) trading action 
messages (e.g., halts and resumes); (4) execution messages; (5) order 
messages; and (6) risk protection triggers and cancel 
notifications.\64\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \59\ The MIAX Express Interface (``MEI'') is a connection to 
MIAX systems that enables Market Makers to submit simple and complex 
electronic quotes to MIAX. See Fee Schedule, Section 5)d)ii), note 
26.
    \60\ See MIAX MEI Interface Specification, Version 2.10a 
(revision date April 8, 2024), available at <a href="https://www.miaxglobal.com/sites/default/files/job-files/MIAX_Express_Interface_MEI_v2.10a.pdf">https://www.miaxglobal.com/sites/default/files/job-files/MIAX_Express_Interface_MEI_v2.10a.pdf</a> (providing full description of 
messages supported by the MEI Interface).
    \61\ See MIAX Options Exchange User Manual, Version 1.0.0, 
Section 5.01 (revision date December 12, 2023), available at <a href="https://www.miaxglobal.com/miax_options_user_manual.pdf">https://www.miaxglobal.com/miax_options_user_manual.pdf</a>.
    \62\ See MIAX MEI Interface Specification, Version 2.10a 
(revision date April 8, 2024), available at <a href="https://www.miaxglobal.com/sites/default/files/job-files/MIAX_Express_Interface_MEI_v2.10a.pdf">https://www.miaxglobal.com/sites/default/files/job-files/MIAX_Express_Interface_MEI_v2.10a.pdf</a> (providing full description of 
messages supported by the MEI Interface).
    \63\ See Nasdaq Options 3: Options Trading Rules, Section 
7(e)(1)(D).
    \64\ See Nasdaq Options 3: Options Trading Rules, Section 
7(e)(1)(D).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Nasdaq charges a monthly fee of $750 per QUO Port, per account 
number, while the Exchange provides the first four LSPs for free and 
proposes to charge $350 per additional LSP for each matching engine per 
month thereafter. Despite having lower market share than the Exchange, 
Nasdaq charges higher QUO Port fees than the fees proposed by the 
Exchange herein for LSPs.
    Nasdaq MRX. Nasdaq, with a market share of approximately 3.36%, 
lower than the Exchange's market share, charges higher Ouch to Trade 
Options (``OTTO'') Port fees than the Limited Service MEI Port fees 
proposed by the Exchange. The Exchange acknowledges differences between 
the functionality of its LSPs and that of Nasdaq MRX's OTTO Ports; 
however, the Exchange believes that the fee comparison between LSPs and 
OTTO Ports is relevant as both ports provide a limited subset of 
functionality as provided by other ports offered by both the Exchange 
and Nasdaq MRX. Nasdaq MRX's OTTO Ports allow Nasdaq MRX members to 
connect, send, and receive messages related to orders, auction orders, 
and auction responses to Nasdaq MRX.\65\ Messages sent over OTTO Ports 
include the following: (1) options symbol directory messages (e.g., 
underlying and complex instruments); (2) system event messages (e.g., 
start of trading hours messages and start of opening); (3) trading 
action messages (e.g., halts and resumes); (4) execution messages; (5) 
order messages; (6) risk protection triggers and cancel notifications; 
(7) auction notifications; (8) auction responses; and (9) post trade 
allocation messages.\66\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \65\ See Nasdaq MRX, Options 3: Options Trading Rules, 
Supplementary Material to Options 3, Section 7, .03(b).
    \66\ See Nasdaq MRX, Options 3: Options Trading Rules, 
Supplementary Material to Options 3, Section 7, .03(b).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Nasdaq MRX charges a monthly fee of $650 per OTTO Port, per account 
number (with fees for all OTTO Ports, CTI Ports, FIX Ports, FIX Drop 
Ports and disaster recovery ports subject to a monthly cap of $7,500), 
while the Exchange provides the first four LSPs for free and proposes 
to charge $350 per additional LSP for each matching engine per month 
thereafter. Despite having lower market share to the Exchange, Nasdaq 
MRX charges higher OTTO Port fees than the fees proposed by the 
Exchange herein for LSPs.
Purge Port Fees
    The proposed Purge Port fees are comparable to, or lower than, the 
similar port fees charged by Nasdaq MRX, Cboe C2 and Nasdaq, as 
summarized in the table below.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                           Market share
                Exchange                        (%)         Type of product/service           Monthly fee
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MIAX....................................            7.89  Purge Ports...............  $400 per matching engine.
Nasdaq MRX \a\..........................            3.36  First 5 SQF Purge Ports...  $1,620 per port.
                                                          Next 15 SQF Purge Ports...  $1,080 per port.
                                                          All SQF Purge Ports over    $540 per port.
                                                           20.
Cboe C2 \b\.............................            2.93  Purge Ports...............  $850 per port.
Nasdaq \c\..............................            3.62  First 5 SQF Purge Ports...  $1,620 per port.
                                                          Next 15 SQF Purge Ports...  $1,080 per port.
                                                          All SQF Purge Ports over    $540 per port.
                                                           20.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\a\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 104005 (September 18, 2025), 90 FR 45855 (September 23, 2025) (SR-
  MRX-2025-20) (new fees effective January 1, 2026).
\b\ See Cboe C2 Fee Schedule, Logical Connectivity Fees section, available at <a href="https://www.cboe.com/us/options/membership/fee_schedule/ctwo/">https://www.cboe.com/us/options/membership/fee_schedule/ctwo/</a>.
\c\ See Nasdaq Options 7: Pricing Schedule, Section 3 Nasdaq Options Market--Ports and Other Services, available
  at <a href="https://listingcenter.nasdaq.com/rulebook/nasdaq/rules/Nasdaq%20Options%207">https://listingcenter.nasdaq.com/rulebook/nasdaq/rules/Nasdaq%20Options%207</a>.

    Nasdaq MRX. Nasdaq MRX, with a market share of approximately 3.36%, 
lower than the Exchange's market share, charges higher Specialized 
Quote Feed (``SQF'') Purge Port fees than the Purge Port fees proposed 
by the Exchange.

[[Page 2203]]

Nasdaq MRX's SQF Purge Ports are analogous to the Exchange's Purge 
Ports. In general, Purge Ports provide Market Makers with the ability 
to send quote purge messages to the Exchange, but are not capable of 
sending or receiving any other type of messages or information.\67\ 
Nasdaq MRX's SQF Purge Ports allow Nasdaq MRX market makers to send 
purge requests to the Nasdaq MRX trading system.\68\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \67\ See Fee Schedule, Section 5)d)ii), note 30.
    \68\ See Nasdaq MRX Options 3: Trading Rules, Supplementary 
Material to Options 3, Section 7, .03(c).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Despite having lower market share than the Exchange, Nasdaq MRX 
charges higher SQF Purge Port fees than the Purge Port fees proposed by 
the Exchange herein. Nasdaq MRX will charge (beginning January 1, 2026) 
SQF Purge Port fees as follows: (a) $1,620 per SQF Purge Port per month 
for the first 5 ports; (b) $1,080 per SQF Purge Port per month for the 
next 15 ports; and (c) $540 per SQF Purge Port for all ports over 20 
ports. The Exchange proposes to charge $400 per Purge Port per matching 
engine per month. The Exchange chose to charge Purge ports on a per 
matching engine basis instead of a per port basis due to its System 
architecture, which provides two (2) Purge Ports per matching engine 
for redundancy purposes. Market Makers are able to select the matching 
engines that they want to connect to based on the business needs of 
each Market Maker and pay the applicable fee based on the number of 
matching engines and pair of ports utilized.\69\ This architecture 
provides Market Makers with flexibility to control their Purge Port 
costs based on the number of matching engines each Marker Maker elects 
to connect to based on each Market Maker's business needs. Further, the 
Exchange's monthly Purge Port fee provides access to the Exchange's 
primary, secondary, and disaster recovery data centers for the single 
monthly fee. Nasdaq MRX, on the other hand, assesses an additional fee 
$50 per SQF Purge Port per month, per account number, to access its 
disaster recovery facility (albeit, Nasdaq MRX currently waives the fee 
for one SQF Purge Port to the disaster recovery facility per market 
maker per month).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \69\ The Exchange notes that each matching engine corresponds to 
a specified group of symbols. Certain Market Makers choose to only 
quote in certain symbols while other Market Makers choose to quote 
the entire market.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Cboe C2. Cboe C2, with a market share of approximately 2.93%, lower 
than the Exchange's market share, charges higher Purge Port fees than 
the Purge Port fees proposed by the Exchange. Cboe C2's Purge Ports are 
analogous to the Exchange's Purge Ports. In general, Cboe C2's Purge 
Ports allow its members the ability to cancel a subset (or all) of open 
orders across the executing firm's ID, underlying symbol(s), or custom 
group ID, across multiple logical ports/sessions.\70\ Cboe C2 charges 
$850 per Purge Port per month, while the Exchange proposes to charge 
$400 per pair of Purge Ports per matching engine per month. Despite 
having lower market share than the Exchange, Cboe C2 charges higher 
Purge Port fees than the Purge Port fees proposed by the Exchange 
herein.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \70\ See Cboe Purge Ports, Frequently Asked Questions, U.S. 
Options, Version 1.3, available at <a href="https://cdn.cboe.com/resources/features/Cboe_USO_PurgePortsFAQs.pdf">https://cdn.cboe.com/resources/features/Cboe_USO_PurgePortsFAQs.pdf</a> (last visited November 5, 
2025).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Nasdaq. Nasdaq, with a market share of approximately 3.62%, lower 
than the Exchange's market share, charges higher SQF Purge Port fees 
than the Purge Port fees proposed by the Exchange. Nasdaq's SQF Purge 
Ports are analogous to the Exchange's Purge Ports, which allow Nasdaq 
market makers to send purge requests to the Nasdaq trading system.\71\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \71\ See Nasdaq Options 3: Trading Rules, Section 7(e)(1)(B).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Despite having lower market share than the Exchange, Nasdaq charges 
higher Purge Port fees than proposed by the Exchange herein. Nasdaq 
charges tiered SQF Purge Port fees as follows: (a) $1,620 per SQF Purge 
Port per month for the first 5 ports; (b) $1,080 per SQF Purge Port per 
month for the next 15 ports; and (c) $540 per SQF Purge Port for all 
ports over 20 ports. The Exchange proposes to charge a flat $400 per 
pair of Purge Ports per matching engine per month.
FXD Port Fees
    The proposed FXD Port fees are comparable to the similar port fees 
charged by Cboe C2 and Nasdaq BX, as summarized in the table below.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                               Market share                                    Monthly fee (per
                  Exchange                          (%)           Type of product/service            port)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MIAX........................................            7.89  FXD Ports.....................                $675
Cboe C2 \a\.................................            2.93  Drop Logical Ports............                 650
Nasdaq \b\..................................            3.62  FIX Drop Ports................                 650
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\a\ See Cboe C2 Fee Schedule, Logical Connectivity Fees section, available at <a href="https://www.cboe.com/us/options/membership/fee_schedule/ctwo/">https://www.cboe.com/us/options/membership/fee_schedule/ctwo/</a>.
\b\ See Nasdaq Options 7: Pricing Schedule, Section 3 Nasdaq Options Market--Ports and Other Services, available
  at <a href="https://listingcenter.nasdaq.com/rulebook/nasdaq/rules/Nasdaq%20Options%207">https://listingcenter.nasdaq.com/rulebook/nasdaq/rules/Nasdaq%20Options%207</a>.

    Cboe C2. Cboe C2, with a market share of approximately 2.93%, lower 
than the Exchange's market share, charges comparable logical Drop Port 
fees as the FXD Port fees proposed by the Exchange. Cboe C2's Drop 
Logical Ports are analogous to the Exchange's FXD Ports. In general, 
FXD Ports allow the Exchange's market participants to connect their 
systems with a messaging interface that provides a copy of real-time 
trade execution, trade correction and trade cancellation 
information.\72\ Cboe C2's Drop Logical Ports allow its members to 
receive real-time information about order flow, including execution 
information (i.e., filled or partially filled) and cancellation 
information.\73\ Like the Exchange's FXD Ports, Cboe C2's Drop Logical 
Ports do not allow the user to submit orders to the exchange.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \72\ See Fee Schedule, Section 5)d)iv).
    \73\ See Cboe Titanium U.S. Options FIX Specification, Version 
2.7.97, FIX Drop section (dated October 20, 2025), available at 
<a href="https://cdn.cboe.com/resources/membership/US_Options_FIX_Specification.pdf">https://cdn.cboe.com/resources/membership/US_Options_FIX_Specification.pdf</a>.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Cboe C2 charges $650 per Drop Logical Port per month, while the 
Exchange proposes to charge $675 per FXD Port per month. Despite having 
lower market share than the Exchange, Cboe C2 charges comparable Drop 
Logical Port fees as the FXD Port fees proposed by the Exchange herein.
    Nasdaq. Nasdaq, with a market share of approximately 3.62%, lower 
than the Exchange's market share, charges comparable FIX Drop Port fees 
as the FXD Port fees proposed by the Exchange. Nasdaq's FIX Drop Ports 
are analogous to the Exchange's FXD Ports in that they provide a real-
time order and execution update message that is sent to a Nasdaq 
participant after an order has been received or modified or an 
execution has occurred and contains

[[Page 2204]]

trade details specific to that participant.\74\ The information 
provided through the Nasdaq FIX Drop Port includes, among other things, 
the following: (i) executions; (ii) cancellations; (iii) modifications 
to an existing order and (iv) busts or post-trade corrections.\75\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \74\ See Nasdaq Options 3: Trading Rules, Section 23(b)(3).
    \75\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Nasdaq charges $650 per FIX Drop Port per month, while the Exchange 
proposes to charge $675 per FXD Port per month. Despite having lower 
market share than the Exchange, Nasdaq charges comparable FIX Drop Port 
fees as the FXD Port fees proposed by the Exchange herein.
Full Service MEI Port Fees
    The proposed Full Service MEI Port fees are comparable to the 
similar port fees charged by Cboe C2, as summarized in the table below.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Exchange              Market  Type of product/                               Monthly fee
                       share   service.
                         (%)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MIAX...............     7.89  Market Maker Full        $6,500  Up to 5 Classes............  Up to 10% of Classes
                               Service MEI Port.                                             by volume (as a %
                                                                                             of national ADV).
                                                       13,500  Up to 10 Classes...........  Up to 20% of Classes
                                                                                             by volume (as a %
                                                                                             of national ADV).
                                                       19,000  Up to 40 Classes...........  Up to 35% of Classes
                                                                                             by volume (as a %
                                                                                             of national ADV).
                                                       23,500  Up to 100 Classes..........  Up to 50% of Classes
                                                                                             by volume (as a %
                                                                                             of national ADV).
                                                       27,500  Over 100 Classes...........  Over 50% of Classes
                                                                                             by volume up to all
                                                                                             Classes on MIAX (as
                                                                                             a % of national
                                                                                             ADV).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cboe C2 \a\........     2.93  Bulk BOE Ports.......  $1,500 per port for ports 1 though 5.
                                                     $2,500 per port for ports 6 or more.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\a\ See Cboe C2 Fee Schedule, Logical Connectivity Fees section, available at <a href="https://www.cboe.com/us/options/membership/fee_schedule/ctwo/">https://www.cboe.com/us/options/membership/fee_schedule/ctwo/</a>.

    Cboe C2. Cboe C2, with a market share of approximately 2.93%, lower 
than the Exchange's market share, charges similar, or higher, bulk 
order port fees than the Full Service MEI Port fees proposed by the 
Exchange. Cboe C2's Bulk BOE Ports are analogous to the Exchange's Full 
Service MEI Ports. In general, Full Service MEI Ports provide Market 
Makers with the ability to send simple and complex quotes, eQuotes, and 
quote purge messages to the MIAX System.\76\ Full Service MEI Ports are 
also capable of receiving administrative information.\77\ Full Service 
MEI Ports entitle a Market Maker to two such ports for each matching 
engine for a single monthly port fee.\78\ The Exchange has twenty-four 
total matching engines; therefore, for one monthly fee, each Market 
Maker is provided forty-eight total Full Service MEI Ports (i.e., two 
per matching engine multiplied by twenty-four matching engines). Cboe 
C2's Bulk BOE Ports provide users with the ability to submit single and 
bulk order messages to enter, modify, or cancel orders and are intended 
for use by market makers quoting large numbers of simple options 
series.\79\ Each Bulk BOE Port has access to all of Cboe C2's matching 
units, which, according to Cboe, typically ranges from 31-35 matching 
units per Cboe-affiliated exchange.\80\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \76\ See Fee Schedule, Section 5)d)ii), note 27.
    \77\ See Fee Schedule, Section 5)d)ii), note 27. See also MIAX 
Options Exchange User Manual, Version 1.0.0, Section 5.01 (revision 
date December 12, 2023), available at <a href="https://www.miaxglobal.com/miax_options_user_manual.pdf">https://www.miaxglobal.com/miax_options_user_manual.pdf</a>.
    \78\ See Fee Schedule, Section 5)d)ii), note 27.
    \79\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 83201 (May 9, 
2018), 83 FR 22546 (May 15, 2018) (SR-C2-2018-006) and Cboe Titanium 
U.S. Options Binary Order Entry Version 3 Specification, Version 
1.10, page 45 (October 31, 2025), available at <a href="https://cdn.cboe.com/resources/membership/US_Options_BOE3_Specification.pdf">https://cdn.cboe.com/resources/membership/US_Options_BOE3_Specification.pdf</a>.
    \80\ See Cboe Titanium U.S. Options Binary Order Entry Version 3 
Specification, Version 1.10, page 224 (October 31, 2025), available 
at <a href="https://cdn.cboe.com/resources/membership/US_Options_BOE3_Specification.pdf">https://cdn.cboe.com/resources/membership/US_Options_BOE3_Specification.pdf</a>.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Despite Cboe C2 having lower market share, the Exchange believes 
that Cboe C2 charges higher bulk port fees than proposed by the 
Exchange herein. Cboe C2 charges $1,500 per port for the first five 
Bulk BOE Ports, and $2,500 per port for each Bulk BOE Port utilized in 
excess of five ports. The Exchange proposes to charge between $6,500 
and $27,500 per month for Full Service MEI Ports for Market Makers, 
depending on the number of classes assigned or percentage of national 
ADV. The Exchange's proposed Full Service MEI Port fees for Market 
Makers provide two such ports for each of the Exchange's twenty-four 
matching engines, for a total of forty-eight total ports for the 
monthly fee (between $6,500 and $27,500). For a Cboe C2 member to 
utilize a Bulk BOE Port on each matching unit, that member would have 
to purchase between 31 and 35 such ports. As such, the approximated 
fees for doing so would be between $72,500 (($1,500 per port multiplied 
by the first five Bulk BOE Ports) + ($2,500 per port multiplied by the 
next twenty-six Bulk BOE Ports)) and $82,500 (($1,500 per port 
multiplied by the first five Bulk BOE Ports) + ($2,500 per port 
multiplied by the next thirty Bulk BOE Ports)).
* * * * *
    Each of the above examples of other exchanges' non-transaction fees 
support the proposition that the Exchange's proposed fees are 
comparable to those of other exchanges with lower or comparable market 
share and are, therefore, reasonable.
The Proposed Fees Are Equitably Allocated and Not Unfairly 
Discriminatory
    Overall. The Exchange believes that its proposed fees are 
reasonable, equitable, and not unfairly discriminatory because, in sum, 
they are designed to align fees with services provided by amending them 
to levels that are comparable to similar fees for services assessed by 
other equity options exchanges with similar market share. The Exchange 
believes that the proposed fees are allocated fairly and equitably 
among Members and non-Members because they apply to all Members and 
non-Members equally, and any differences among categories of fees are 
not unfairly discriminatory and are justified and appropriate.
    The Exchange believes that the proposed fees are equitably 
allocated because they will apply uniformly to all Members and non-
Members that choose to purchase a particular service based on their 
business need. Any Member or non-Member that chooses to purchase a 
particular product or service is subject to the same Fee Schedule, 
regardless of what type of business they operate, and the decision to 
purchase a particular product or service is based on objective 
differences in usage of the particular product or service among 
different Members and non-Member, which are still ultimately in the 
control of any particular Member or non-Member. The Exchange believes 
the proposed pricing

[[Page 2205]]

is equitably allocated because of the service's or product's utility 
and value to market participants as compared to other like exchanges' 
products and services.
    The Exchange further believes that the proposed fees are 
reasonable, fair and equitable, and non-discriminatory because they 
will apply to all Members in the same manner and are not targeted at a 
specific type or category of market participant engaged in any 
particular trading strategy.
    EEM Trading Permit Fees. The Exchange believes the proposed Trading 
Permit fee for EEMs is equitably allocated and not unfairly 
discriminatory because the proposed fee would apply to each EEM in a 
uniform manner without regard to membership status or the extent of any 
other business with the Exchange or affiliated entities (i.e., order 
flow provider, clearing services, etc.).
    Market Maker Trading Permit Fees. The Exchange believes the 
proposed Trading Permit fees for Market Makers are equitable as the 
fees apply equally to all Market Makers based upon the number of class 
registrations or percentage of executed national ADV each month. The 
Exchange believes that assessing lower fees to Market Makers that quote 
in fewer classes is equitable because it will allow the Exchange to 
retain and attract smaller-scale Market Makers, which are an integral 
component of the options industry marketplace. Since these smaller 
Market Makers typically utilize less bandwidth and capacity on the 
Exchange network due to the lower number of quoted classes, the 
Exchange believes it is equitable to offer Market Makers Trading Permit 
fee tiers with lower rates based on a lower number of classes assigned 
or a lower percentage of executed national ADV. In addition, smaller 
Market Makers who want to quote greater number of classes or a higher 
percentage of executed national ADV, but have lower volume thresholds, 
the Exchange believes it is equitable to offer such Market Makers a 
lower fee, designated in footnote ``*'' following the Market Maker 
Trading Permit fee table.
    The Exchange believes it is equitable and not unfairly 
discriminatory to charge higher Trading Permit fees to Market Makers 
that quote a higher number of classes or execute higher percentages of 
volume on the Exchange because the System requires increased 
performance and capacity in order to provide the opportunity for Market 
Makers to quote in a higher number of options classes on the Exchange. 
Specifically, more classes that are actively quoted on the Exchange by 
a Market Maker will require increased memory for record retention, 
increased bandwidth for optimized performance, increased 
functionalities on each application layer, and increased optimization 
with regard to surveillance and monitoring of such classes quoted. As 
such, basing the higher Market Maker Trading Permit fees on the greater 
number of classes quoted in on any given day in a calendar month is 
equitable and not unfairly discriminatory when considering how the 
increased number of quoted classes directly impacts the resources 
required for the Exchange to operate for all market participants.
    Network Connectivity Fees. The Exchange believes that the proposed 
fees for network connectivity to the primary/secondary facility and 
disaster recovery facility for Members and non-Members are equitably 
allocated because they would apply equally to all market participants 
that choose to purchase such connectivity products and services from 
the Exchange. Any participant that chooses to purchase the Exchange's 
connectivity products and services would be subject to the same fees, 
regardless of what type of business they operate or the use they plan 
to make of the products and services. Additionally, the fee increases 
would be applied uniformly to market participants without regard to 
Exchange membership status or the extent of any other business with the 
Exchange or affiliated entities.
    The Exchange believes that the proposed fees are equitably 
allocated among anticipated users of the network connectivity as the 
Exchange expects that users of 10Gb ULL connections will consume 
substantially more bandwidth and network resources than users of 1Gb 
connections. It is the experience of the Exchange and its affiliated 
exchanges that this is the case as 10Gb ULL connection users have 
historically accounted for more than 99% of message traffic over the 
network, which drives increased capacity utilization, while the users 
of the 1Gb connections account for less than 1% of message traffic over 
the network. In the experience of the Exchange and its affiliates, 
users of the 1Gb connections do not have the same business needs for 
the high-performance network as 10Gb ULL users.
    The Exchange's high-performance network and supporting 
infrastructure (including employee support), provides unparalleled 
system throughput. To achieve a consistent, premium network 
performance, the Exchange built out and must now maintain a network 
that has the capacity to handle the message rate requirements of its 
most heavy network consumers. These billions of messages per day 
consume the Exchange's resources and significantly contribute to the 
overall increase in storage and network transport capabilities. The 
Exchange must analyze its storage capacity on an ongoing basis to 
ensure it has sufficient capacity to store these messages to satisfy 
its record keeping requirements under the Exchange Act.\81\ Given this 
difference in network utilization rate, the Exchange believes that it 
is equitable and not unfairly discriminatory that the 10Gb ULL users 
continue to pay higher network connectivity fees.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \81\ 17 CFR 240.17a-1 (recordkeeping rule for national 
securities exchanges, national securities associations, registered 
clearing agencies and the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    FIX and FXD Port Fees. The Exchange believes that the proposed FIX 
and FXD Port fees are equitable and non-discriminatory because they 
will apply to all Members in the same manner and are not targeted at a 
specific type or category of market participant engaged in any 
particular trading strategy. The proposed fees for each type of port 
(FIX or FXD) does not depend on any distinctions between Members, 
customers, broker-dealers, or any other entity. The proposed fee will 
be assessed solely based on the number of FIX or FXD Ports an entity 
selects and not on any other distinction applied by the Exchange. The 
Exchange believes offering a tiered fee structure where the fee for FIX 
Ports decreases with the number utilized is equitable and not unfairly 
discriminatory because FIX Ports are used for order entry compared to 
FXD Ports, which are used to provide messages concerning real-time 
trade execution, trade correction and trade cancellation information 
and, in the Exchange's experience, Members tend to utilize fewer such 
ports overall. Further, the Exchange believes the proposed fees for FIX 
and FXD Ports are reasonable because for one monthly fee for each port, 
Members are able to access all matching engines.
    Purge Port Fees. The Exchange believes that the proposed Purge Port 
fees are equitable because Purge Ports are completely voluntary as they 
relate solely to optional risk management functionality. Purge Ports 
enhance Market Makers' ability to manage quotes, which, in turn, 
improves their risk controls to the benefit of all market participants. 
The Exchange also believes that the proposed Purge Port fees are not 
unfairly discriminatory because they will apply uniformly to all Market

[[Page 2206]]

Makers that choose to use the optional Purge Ports. Purge Ports are 
completely voluntary and, as they relate solely to optional risk 
management functionality, no Market Maker is required or under any 
regulatory obligation to utilize them. All Market Makers that 
voluntarily select this service option will be charged the same amount 
for the same services based upon the number of matching engines. The 
Exchange also believes that offering Purge Ports at the matching engine 
level promotes risk management across the industry, and thereby 
facilitates investor protection. Some market participants, in 
particular the larger firms, could and do build similar risk 
functionality in their trading systems that permit the flexible 
cancellation of quotes entered on the Exchange at a high rate. Offering 
matching engine level protections ensures that such functionality is 
widely available to all firms, including smaller firms that may 
otherwise not be willing to incur the costs and development work 
necessary to support their own customized mass cancel functionality. As 
such, the Exchange believes the proposed fees are equitable and not 
unfairly discriminatory.
    Limited Service MEI Port Fees. The Exchange believes the proposed 
fee for Limited Service MEI Ports is not unfairly discriminatory 
because it would apply to all Market Makers equally. All Market Makers 
remain eligible to receive four free Limited Service MEI Ports per 
matching engine and those that elect to purchase more would be subject 
to the same monthly rate depending upon the number they choose to 
utilize. In the Exchange's experience, certain market participants 
choose to purchase additional Limited Service MEI Ports based on their 
own particular trading/quoting strategies and feel they need a certain 
number of ports to execute on those strategies. Other market 
participants may continue to choose to only utilize the free Limited 
Service MEI Ports to accommodate their own trading or quoting 
strategies, or other business models. All market participants elect to 
receive or purchase the amount of Limited Service MEI Ports they 
require based on their own business decisions and all market 
participants would be subject to the same fee structure. Every market 
participant may receive up to four free Limited Service MEI Ports and 
those that choose to purchase additional Limited Service MEI Ports may 
elect to do so based on their own business decisions and would continue 
to be subject to the same monthly fees.
    The Exchange believes that the proposed fee for Limited Service MEI 
Ports is reasonable, equitable, and not unfairly discriminatory because 
it is designed to align fees with services provided, will apply equally 
to all Members that are assigned Limited Service MEI Ports, and 
minimizes barriers to entry by providing all Members with four free 
Limited Service MEI Ports. As a result, there are several Members that 
are not subject to any additional LSP fees. In contrast, other 
exchanges generally charge in excess of $350 per port (the fee the 
Exchange proposes to charge for Limited Service MEI Ports) without 
providing any initial ports for free.\82\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \82\ See Nasdaq, Options 7: Pricing Schedule, Section 3(i)(4), 
available at <a href="https://listingcenter.nasdaq.com/rulebook/nasdaq/rules/Nasdaq%20Options%207">https://listingcenter.nasdaq.com/rulebook/nasdaq/rules/Nasdaq%20Options%207</a> (providing zero free ports and charging $750 
per QUO Port, which is analogous to the Exchange's Limited Service 
MEI Ports) and Nasdaq MRX, Options 7: Pricing Schedule, Section 
6(i)(4), available at <a href="https://listingcenter.nasdaq.com/rulebook/mrx/rules/MRX%20Options%207">https://listingcenter.nasdaq.com/rulebook/mrx/rules/MRX%20Options%207</a> (providing zero free ports and charging $650 
per OTTO Port, which is analogous to the Exchange's Limited Service 
MEI Ports).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Exchange believes that the proposed Limited Service MEI Port 
fee structure is equitable and not unfairly discriminatory because it 
will continue to enable Members to access the Exchange with four free 
ports before the proposed fees for additional Limited Service MEI Ports 
apply, thereby continuing to encourage order flow and liquidity from a 
diverse set of market participants, facilitating price discovery and 
the interaction of orders. The Exchange notes that a substantial 
majority of Members only utilize the four Limited Service MEI Ports 
provided for no fee. The proposed fees are designed to encourage 
Members to be efficient with their Limited Service MEI Port usage. 
There is no requirement that any Member maintain a specific number of 
Limited Service MEI Ports and a Member may choose to maintain as many 
or as few of such ports as each Member deems appropriate.
    Full Service MEI Port Fees. The proposed fees for Full Service MEI 
Ports are not unfairly discriminatory because they would apply to all 
Market Makers equally. The Exchange's pricing structure for Full 
Service MEI Ports is similar to the pricing structure used by the 
Exchange's affiliates, MIAX Pearl, MIAX Emerald, and MIAX Sapphire, for 
their Full Service MEI/MEO Port fees.\83\ In the Exchange's experience, 
Members that are frequently in the highest tier for Full Service MEI 
Ports consume the most bandwidth and resources of the network.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \83\ See MIAX Pearl Fee Schedule, Section 5)d); MIAX Emerald Fee 
Schedule, Section 5)d)ii); and MIAX Sapphire Fee Schedule, Section 
5)d)ii).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    To achieve a consistent, premium network performance, the Exchange 
must build out and maintain a network that has the capacity to handle 
the message rate requirements of its most heavy network consumers 
during anticipated peak market conditions. The need to support billions 
of messages per day consumes the Exchange's resources and significantly 
contributes to the overall need to increase network storage and 
transport capabilities. Thus, as the number of ports a Market Maker has 
increases, the related pull on Exchange resources may continue to 
increase.
    The Exchange further believes that the proposed fees are 
reasonable, equitably allocated and not unfairly discriminatory 
because, for the flat fee in each tier, the Exchange provides each 
Member two Full Service MEI Ports for each matching engine to which 
that Member is connected. Unlike other options exchanges that provide 
similar port functionality and charge fees on a per port basis,\84\ the 
Exchange offers Full Service MEI Ports as a package and provides Market 
Makers with the option to receive up to two Full Service MEI Ports per 
matching engine to which it connects. The Exchange currently has 
twenty-four matching engines, which means Market Makers may receive up 
to forty-eight Full Service MEI Ports for a single monthly fee, which 
can vary based on certain volume percentages or classes the Market 
Maker is registered in. Assuming a Market Maker connects to all twenty-
four matching engines during the month, and achieves the highest tier 
for that month, with two Full Service MEI Ports per matching engine, 
this would result in a cost of approximately $573 per Full Service MEI 
Port ($27,500 divided by 48, and rounded up to the nearest dollar).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \84\ See NASDAQ Pricing Schedule, Options 7, Section 3, Ports 
and Other Services and NASDAQ Rules, General 8: Connectivity, 
Section 1. Co-Location Services (similar to the MIAX Pearl Options' 
MEO Ports, SQF ports are primarily utilized by Market Makers); ISE 
Pricing Schedule, Options 7, Section 7, Connectivity Fees and ISE 
Rules, General 8: Connectivity; NYSE American Options Fee Schedule, 
Section V.A. Port Fees and Section V.B. Co-Location Fees; GEMX 
Pricing Schedule, Options 7, Section 6, Connectivity Fees and GEMX 
Rules, General 8: Connectivity.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Exchange believes the proposed reduced Full Service MEI Port 
fee for Market Makers that fall within the 3rd, 4th, and 5th levels of 
the Full Service MEI Port fee table and certain volume thresholds are 
met is not unfairly discriminatory because this lower monthly fee is 
designed to provide a lower fixed cost to those Market Makers who are 
willing to quote the entire

[[Page 2207]]

Exchange market (or substantial amount of the Exchange market), as 
objectively measured by either number of classes assigned or national 
ADV, but who do not otherwise execute a significant amount of volume on 
the Exchange. The Exchange believes that, by continuing to offer a 
lower fixed cost to Market Makers that execute less volume, the 
Exchange will continue to retain and attract smaller-scale Market 
Makers, which are an integral component of the option industry 
marketplace, but have been decreasing in number in recent years, due to 
industry consolidation and lower market maker profitability. The 
Exchange believes it is beneficial to incentivize these additional 
Market Makers to register to make markets on the Exchange to increase 
liquidity as the Exchange begins operations. Increased liquidity from a 
diverse set of market participants helps facilitate price discovery and 
the interaction of orders, which benefits all market participants of 
the Exchange. Since these smaller-scale Market Makers may utilize less 
Exchange capacity due to lower overall volume executed, the Exchange 
believes it is reasonable, equitably allocated and not unfairly 
discriminatory to offer such Market Makers a lower fixed cost. The 
Exchange notes that its affiliated markets, MIAX Pearl, MIAX Emerald, 
and MIAX Sapphire, offer a similar reduced fee for their Full Service 
MEO/MEI Ports for smaller-scale Market Makers.\85\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \85\ See MIAX Pearl Fee Schedule, Section 5)d), note ``**''; 
MIAX Emerald Fee Schedule, Section 5)d)ii), note ``[squf]''; and 
MIAX Sapphire Fee Schedule, Section 5)d), note ``b''.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

* * * * *
    For all of the foregoing reasons, the Exchange believes that the 
proposed fees are equitably allocated and not unfairly discriminatory.

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

    In accordance with Section 6(b)(8) of the Act,\86\ the Exchange 
does not believe that the proposed rule change would impose any burden 
on competition that is not necessary or appropriate in furtherance of 
the purposes of the Act.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \86\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(8).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Intra-Market Competition
EEM Trading Permit Fees
    The Exchange believes the proposed Trading Permit fee for EEMs does 
not impose any burden on intra-market competition that is not necessary 
or appropriate in furtherance of the purposes of the Act because the 
proposed fee does not favor certain categories of market participants 
in a manner that would impose a burden on competition. The proposed fee 
is the same for all EEMs of different sizes and business models without 
regard to membership status or the extent of any other business with 
the Exchange or affiliated entities.
Market Maker Trading Permit Fees
    The Exchange believes that the proposed Trading Permit fees for 
Market Makers do not place certain market participants at a relative 
disadvantage to other market participants because the proposed fees do 
not favor certain categories of market participants in a manner that 
would impose a burden on competition; rather, the fee rates are 
designed in order to provide objective criteria for Market Makers of 
different sizes and business models that best matches their order and 
quoting activity on the Exchange. Further, the Exchange believes that 
the proposed Market Maker Trading Permit fees will not impose a burden 
on intra-market competition because, when these fees are viewed in the 
context of the overall activity on the Exchange, Market Makers: (1) 
consume the most bandwidth and resources of the network; (2) transact 
the vast majority of the volume on the Exchange; and (3) require the 
high touch network support services provided by the Exchange and its 
staff, including more costly network monitoring, reporting and support 
services, resulting in a much higher cost to the Exchange. The Exchange 
notes that the majority of customer demand comes from Market Makers, 
whose transactions make up a majority of the volume on the Exchange. 
Further, other member types, i.e., EEMs, take up significantly less 
Exchange resources and costs. As such, the Exchange does not believe 
charging Market Makers higher Trading Permit fees than other member 
types will impose a burden on intra-market competition.
    The Exchange believes that the increasing fees under the tiered 
Market Maker Trading Permit fee structure do not impose a burden on 
intra-market competition because the tiered structure continues to take 
into account the number of classes quoted by each individual Market 
Maker or percentage of total national ADV. The Exchange's system 
requires increased performance and capacity in order to provide the 
opportunity for each Market Maker to quote in a higher number of 
options classes on the Exchange. Specifically, the more classes that 
are actively quoted on the Exchange by a Market Maker requires 
increased memory for record retention, increased bandwidth for 
optimized performance, increased functionalities on each application 
layer, and increased optimization with regard to surveillance and 
monitoring of such classes quoted. As such, basing the Market Maker 
Trading Permit fee on the greatest number of classes quoted in on any 
given day in a calendar month, or percentage of total national ADV, 
does not impose any burden on intra-market competition that is not 
necessary or appropriate in furtherance of the purposes of the Act when 
taking into account how the increased number of quoted classes directly 
impact the costs and resources for the Exchange.
Network Connectivity Fees
    The Exchange believes that the proposed network connectivity fees 
for Members and non-Members do not place certain market participants at 
a relative disadvantage to other market participants or affect the 
ability of such market participants to compete. The proposed fees will 
apply uniformly to all market participants regardless of the number of 
1Gb or 10Gb ULL connections they choose to purchase to the primary/
secondary facility or the disaster recovery facility. The proposed fees 
do not favor certain categories of market participants in a manner that 
would impose an undue burden on competition.
    The Exchange does not believe that the proposed fees for 
connectivity services place certain market participants at a relative 
disadvantage to other market participants because the proposed 
connectivity pricing is associated with relative usage of the Exchange 
by each market participant and does not impose a barrier to entry to 
smaller participants. The Exchange believes its proposed pricing is 
reasonable and, when coupled with the availability of third-party 
providers that also offer connectivity solutions, participation on the 
Exchange is competitive for all market participants, including smaller 
trading firms. The connectivity services purchased by market 
participants typically increase based on their additional message 
traffic and/or the complexity of their operations. The market 
participants that utilize more connectivity services typically utilize 
the most bandwidth, and those are the participants that consume the 
most resources from the network. Accordingly, the proposed fees for 
connectivity services do not favor certain categories of market 
participants in a manner that would impose a burden on competition; 
rather, the allocation of the proposed connectivity fees reflects the 
network resources consumed by the various size of market participants 
and the costs to the

[[Page 2208]]

Exchange of providing such connectivity services.
FIX and FXD Port Fees
    The Exchange believes that the proposed FIX and FXD Port fees do 
not place certain market participants at a relative disadvantage to 
other market participants because they will apply to all Members in the 
same manner and are not targeted at a specific type or category of 
market participant engaged in any particular trading strategy. The 
proposed fees for each type of port (FIX or FXD) do not depend on any 
distinctions between Members, customers, broker-dealers, or any other 
entity. The proposed fee will be assessed solely based on the number of 
FIX or FXD Ports an entity selects and not on any other distinction 
applied by the Exchange.
Purge Port Fees
    The Exchange believes that the proposed Purge Port fees do not 
place certain market participants at a relative disadvantage to other 
market participants because Purge Ports are completely voluntary as 
they relate solely to optional risk management functionality. Purge 
Ports enhance Members' ability to manage orders, which, in turn, 
improves their risk controls to the benefit of all market participants. 
Further, the proposed fees apply uniformly to all Members that choose 
to use the optional Purge Ports and no Market Maker is required or 
under any regulatory obligation to utilize them. All Members that 
voluntarily choose to utilize Purge Ports will be charged the same 
amount based upon the number of matching engines for each set of Purge 
Ports in use.
Limited Service MEI Port Fees
    The Exchange does not believe its proposed fee for Limited Service 
MEI Ports will place certain market participants at a relative 
disadvantage to other market participants. All Market Makers would be 
eligible to receive four free Limited Service MEI Ports and those that 
elect to purchase more would be subject to the same monthly fee. All 
Market Makers purchase the amount of Limited Service MEI Ports they 
require based on their own business decisions and similarly situated 
firms are subject to the same fee.
Full Service MEI Port Fees
    The Exchange does not believe proposed fees for Full Service MEI 
Ports will place certain market participants at a relative disadvantage 
to other market participants because they would apply to all Market 
Makers equally depending on the number of classes the Market Maker is 
registered to quote in or the percentage of national ADV. The Exchange 
believes the proposed fees will not result in any burden on intra-
market competition that is not necessary or appropriate in furtherance 
of the purposes of the Act because, in the Exchange's experience, 
Market Makers that are frequently in the highest tier for Full Service 
MEI Ports consume the most bandwidth and resources of the network.
    The Exchange further believes that the proposed fees do not place 
certain market participants at the Exchange at a relative disadvantage 
compared to other market participants or affect the ability of such 
market participants to compete because, for the flat fee in each tier, 
the Exchange provides each Market Maker two Full Service MEI Ports for 
each matching engine to which that Market Maker is connected. Further, 
the Exchange offers a reduced Full Service MEI Port fee for Market 
Makers that fall within the 3rd, 4th and 5th levels of the Full Service 
MEI Port fee table, which lower monthly fee is designed to provide a 
lower fixed cost to those Market Makers who are willing to quote the 
entire Exchange market (or substantial amount of the Exchange market), 
as objectively measured by either number of classes assigned or 
national ADV, but who do not otherwise execute a significant amount of 
volume on the Exchange.
    The Exchange believes that, by continuing to offer a lower fixed 
cost to Market Makers that execute less volume, the Exchange will 
continue to retain and attract smaller-scale Market Makers, which are 
an integral component of the option industry marketplace, but have been 
decreasing in number in recent years, due to industry consolidation and 
lower market maker profitability. Accordingly, the Exchange believes 
the reduced fee will promote competition by incentivizing these 
additional Market Makers to register to make markets on the Exchange to 
increase liquidity.
Inter-Market Competition
    The Exchange does not believe that the proposed changes will result 
in any burden on inter-market competition that is not necessary or 
appropriate in furtherance of the purposes of the Act. In contrast, the 
Exchange believes that, without the fee changes proposed herein, the 
Exchange is potentially at a competitive disadvantage to certain other 
exchanges that have in place comparable or higher fees for similar 
services with similar market share, as described above. The Exchange 
believes that non-transaction fees can be used to foster more 
competitive transaction pricing and additional infrastructure 
investment and there are other options markets of which market 
participants may connect to trade options that charge higher or 
comparable rates as the Exchange for similar services and products. 
Accordingly, the Exchange does not believe its proposed fee changes 
impose any burden on competition that is not necessary or appropriate 
in furtherance of the purposes of the Act.

C. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement on Comments on the Proposed 
Rule Change Received From Members, Participants, or Others

    Written comments were neither solicited nor received.

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)(ii) of the Act,\87\ and Rule 19b-4(f)(2) \88\ 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 shall institute proceedings to determine whether 
the proposed rule should be approved or disapproved.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \87\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A)(ii).
    \88\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4(f)(2).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

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#1b696e777e36787476767e756f685b687e78357c746d"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="b7c5c2dbd29ad4d8dadad2d9c3c4f7c4d2d499d0d8c1">[email&#160;protected]</span></a>. Please include 
file number SR-MIAX-2025-50 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-MIAX-2025-50. This file

[[Page 2209]]

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-MIAX-2025-50 and should be submitted on 
or before February 6, 2026.

    For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets, 
pursuant to delegated authority.\89\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \89\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(12).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

J. Matthew DeLesDernier,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2026-00802 Filed 1-15-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P


</pre><script data-cfasync="false" src="/cdn-cgi/scripts/5c5dd728/cloudflare-static/email-decode.min.js"></script></body>
</html>
Indexed from Federal Register on January 16, 2026.

This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.