Notice2026-01824
Self-Regulatory Organizations; NYSE American LLC; Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change To Modify the NYSE American Options Fee Schedule To Waive the Combined Cap on Floor Broker Credits Paid for QCC Trades and Rebates Paid Through the Manual Billable Rebate Program for the Months of January and February 2026
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 30, 2026
Issuing agencies
Securities and Exchange Commission
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 20 (Friday, January 30, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 20 (Friday, January 30, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4136-4138]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-01824]
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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
[Release No. 34-104696; File No. SR-NYSEAMER-2026-05]
Self-Regulatory Organizations; NYSE American LLC; Notice of
Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change To Modify
the NYSE American Options Fee Schedule To Waive the Combined Cap on
Floor Broker Credits Paid for QCC Trades and Rebates Paid Through the
Manual Billable Rebate Program for the Months of January and February
2026
January 27, 2026.
Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) \1\ of the Securities Exchange Act of
1934 (``Act'') \2\ and Rule 19b-4 thereunder,\3\ notice is hereby given
that, on January 21, 2026, NYSE American LLC (``NYSE American'' or the
``Exchange'') filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the
``Commission'') the proposed rule change as described in Items I and II
below, which Items have been prepared by the self-regulatory
organization. The Commission is publishing this notice to solicit
comments on the proposed rule change from interested persons.
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\1\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).
\2\ 15 U.S.C. 78a.
\3\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4.
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I. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Terms of Substance
of the Proposed Rule Change
The Exchange proposes to modify the NYSE American Options Fee
Schedule (``Fee Schedule'') to waive the maximum combined Floor Broker
credits paid for QCC trades and rebates paid through the Manual
Billable Rebate Program for the months of January and February 2026.
The proposed rule change is available on the Exchange's website at
<a href="http://www.nyse.com">www.nyse.com</a> and at the principal office of the Exchange.
II. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Purpose of, and
Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule Change
In its filing with the Commission, the self-regulatory organization
included statements concerning the purpose of, and basis for, the
proposed rule change and discussed any comments it received on the
proposed rule change. The text of those statements may be examined at
the places specified in Item IV below. The Exchange has prepared
summaries, set forth in sections A, B, and C below, of the most
significant parts of such statements.
A. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Purpose of, and the
Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule Change
1. Purpose
The purpose of this filing is to amend the Fee Schedule to waive
the maximum combined Floor Broker credits paid for QCC trades and
rebates paid through the Manual Billable Rebate Program for the months
of January and February 2026.
The Exchange imposes a limit on the maximum combined Floor Broker
credits paid for QCC trades and rebates paid through the Manual
Billable Rebate Program per month per Floor Broker firm (the
``Cap'').\4\ The Exchange recently filed a proposed rule change to
increase the amount of the Cap from $3,000,000 to $4,000,000 based on
sustained, elevated open outcry volumes in 2025.\5\ Because open outcry
volumes on the Exchange remain elevated, the Exchange proposes to waive
the Cap for the months of January and February 2026 and to use the
period during which the Cap is waived to evaluate further adjustments
to the amount of the Cap.\6\
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\4\ See Fee Schedule, Sections I.F. and III.E.1 (providing, in
relevant part, that Floor Broker credits paid for QCC trades and
rebates paid through the Manual Billable Rebate Program shall not
combine to exceed $4,000,000 per month per Floor Broker firm).
\5\ See SR-NYSEAMER-2026-03, available at <a href="https://www.nyse.com/publicdocs/nyse/markets/nyse-american/rule-filings/filings/2026/SR-NYSEAMER-2026-03.pdf">https://www.nyse.com/publicdocs/nyse/markets/nyse-american/rule-filings/filings/2026/SR-NYSEAMER-2026-03.pdf</a>.
\6\ See proposed Fee Schedule, Sections I.F. and III.E.1.
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As with previous waivers,\7\ the proposed waiver is being adopted
in anticipation of Floor Broker firms reaching the Cap before month's
end and potentially redirecting their order flow away from the
Exchange. In the absence of the proposed waiver, Floor Broker firms may
choose to re-direct such order flow to a competing market. Accordingly,
the purpose of the proposal is to encourage Floor Broker firms to
continue to direct open outcry transactions to the Exchange, despite
increasing industry volumes making it less difficult to reach the Cap
(even at the Cap's newly increased amount).
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\7\ See Securities Exchange Act Release Nos. 102890 (April 18,
2025), 90 FR 17273 (April 24, 2025) (SRNYSEAMER-2025-26); 102985
(May 2, 2025), 90 FR 19584 (May 8, 2025) (SR-NYSEAMER-2025-27);
103623 (August 1, 2025), 90 FR 37905 (August 6, 2025) (SR-NYSEAMER-
2025-46); 104258 (November 25, 2025), 90 FR 55186 (December 1, 2025)
(SR-NYSEAMER-2025-65).
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Although the Exchange cannot predict with certainty how many Floor
Broker firms would be impacted by this change, the Exchange believes
that the proposed changes would incent Floor Brokers to continue to
direct their order flow to the Exchange, thus increasing liquidity to
the benefit of all market participants.
2. Statutory Basis
The Exchange believes that the proposed rule change is consistent
with Section 6(b) of the Act,\8\ in general, and furthers the
objectives of Sections 6(b)(4) and (5) of the Act,\9\ in particular,
because it provides for the equitable allocation of reasonable dues,
fees, and other charges among its members, issuers and other persons
using its facilities and does not unfairly discriminate between
customers, issuers, brokers or dealers.
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\8\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b).
\9\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(4) and (5).
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The proposed changes to the Fee Schedule are reasonable, equitable,
and not unfairly discriminatory. As a threshold matter, the Exchange is
subject to significant competitive forces in the market for options
securities transaction services that constrain its pricing
determinations in that market. The Commission has repeatedly expressed
its preference for competition over regulatory intervention in
determining prices, products, and services in the securities markets.
In Regulation NMS, the Commission highlighted the importance of market
forces in determining prices and SRO revenues and, also, recognized
that current regulation of the market system ``has been remarkably
successful in promoting market competition in its broader forms that
are most important to investors and listed companies.'' \10\
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\10\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 51808 (June 9,
2005), 70 FR 37496, 37499 (June 29, 2005) (S7-10-04) (``Reg NMS
Adopting Release'').
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There are currently 18 registered options exchanges competing for
order flow. Based on publicly-available information, and excluding
index-based options, no single exchange has more than 16% of the market
share of
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executed volume of multiply-listed equity and ETF options trades.\11\
Therefore, currently no exchange possesses significant pricing power in
the execution of multiply-listed equity and ETF options order flow.
More specifically, in November 2025, the Exchange had 8.58% market
share of executed volume of multiply-listed equity and ETF options
trades.\12\ In such a low-concentrated and highly competitive market,
no single options exchange possesses significant pricing power in the
execution of options order flow. Within this environment, market
participants can freely and often do shift their order flow among the
Exchange and competing venues in response to changes in their
respective pricing schedules.
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\11\ The OCC publishes options and futures volume in a variety
of formats, including daily and monthly volume by exchange,
available here: <a href="https://www.theocc.com/Market-Data/Market-Data-Reports/Volume-and-Open-Interest/Monthly-Weekly-Volume-Statistics">https://www.theocc.com/Market-Data/Market-Data-Reports/Volume-and-Open-Interest/Monthly-Weekly-Volume-Statistics</a>.
\12\ Based on a compilation of OCC data for monthly volume of
equity-based options and monthly volume of equity-based ETF options,
see id., the Exchange's market share in equity-based options
increased from 6.09% for the month of November 2024 to 8.58% for the
month of November 2025.
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The proposed waiver of the Cap is reasonable because it is designed
to encourage the role performed by Floor Brokers in facilitating the
execution of orders via open outcry, a function that the Exchange
wishes to support for the benefit of all market participants, and would
allow the Exchange time to evaluate further changes to the amount of
the Cap. Absent the proposed waiver, the Exchange believes that as soon
as Floor Brokers reach the Cap, they are likely to re-direct order flow
away from the Exchange, which may adversely impact other market
participants trading on the Exchange. To the extent that the proposed
waiver encourages Floor Brokers to facilitate transactions on the
Exchange instead of on a competing market, all market participants
participating on the Exchange would benefit from the increased
liquidity. The Exchange believes the proposed waiver should continue to
incent Floor Brokers to encourage market participants to aggregate
their executions at the Exchange as a primary execution venue. To the
extent that the proposed change achieves its purpose in attracting more
volume to the Exchange, this increased order flow would continue to
make the Exchange a more competitive venue for order execution, thus
improving market quality for all market participants.
The Exchange believes the proposed waiver of the Cap is an
equitable allocation of its fees and credits and is not unfairly
discriminatory because the proposal is based on the amount and type of
business transacted on the Exchange. Floor Brokers are not obligated to
execute manual transactions and QCCs to earn rebates and credits
applied toward the Cap. However, the proposed waiver is designed to
continue to encourage the role performed by Floor Brokers in
facilitating the execution of orders via open outcry, a function that
the Exchange wishes to support for the benefit of all market
participants.
To the extent that the proposed waiver of the Cap continues to
attract manual transactions and QCCs to the Exchange, this increased
order flow would continue to make the Exchange a more competitive venue
for order execution. Thus, the Exchange believes the proposed waiver
would improve market quality for all market participants on the
Exchange and attract more order flow to the Exchange, thereby improving
market-wide quality and price discovery. The resulting increased volume
and liquidity would provide more trading opportunities and tighter
spreads to all market participants and thus would promote just and
equitable principles of trade, remove impediments to and perfect the
mechanism of a free and open market and a national market system and,
in general, protect investors and the public interest.
Finally, the Exchange believes that it is subject to significant
competitive forces, as described below in the Exchange's statement
regarding the burden on competition.
B. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement on Burden on Competition
In accordance with Section 6(b)(8) of the Act, 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. Instead, as discussed above, the Exchange believes
that the proposed changes would encourage the submission of additional
liquidity to a public exchange, thereby promoting market depth, price
discovery and transparency and enhancing order execution opportunities
for all market participants. As a result, the Exchange believes that
the proposed change furthers the Commission's goal in adopting
Regulation NMS of fostering integrated competition among orders, which
promotes ``more efficient pricing of individual stocks for all types of
orders, large and small.'' \13\
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\13\ See Reg NMS Adopting Release, supra note 10, at 37499.
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Intramarket Competition. The proposed waiver of the Cap would apply
equally to all similarly-situated Floor Brokers. To the extent that
there is an additional competitive burden on non-Floor Brokers, the
Exchange believes that any such burden would be appropriate because
Floor Brokers serve an important function in facilitating the execution
of orders in open outcry and price discovery for all market
participants.
Intermarket Competition. The Exchange operates in a highly
competitive market in which market participants can readily favor one
of the other 17 competing options exchanges if they deem the Exchange's
fee levels to be excessive. In such an environment, the Exchange must
continually adjust its fees to remain competitive with other exchanges
and to attract order flow to the Exchange. Based on publicly-available
information, and excluding index-based options, no single exchange has
more than 16% of the market share of executed volume of multiply-listed
equity and ETF options trades.\14\ Therefore, currently no exchange
possesses significant pricing power in the execution of multiply-listed
equity and ETF options order flow. More specifically, in November 2025,
the Exchange had 8.58% market share of executed volume of multiply-
listed equity and ETF options trades.\15\
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\14\ The OCC publishes options and futures volume in a variety
of formats, including daily and monthly volume by exchange,
available here: <a href="https://www.theocc.com/Market-Data/Market-Data-Reports/Volume-and-Open-Interest/Monthly-Weekly-Volume-Statistics">https://www.theocc.com/Market-Data/Market-Data-Reports/Volume-and-Open-Interest/Monthly-Weekly-Volume-Statistics</a>.
\15\ Based on a compilation of OCC data for monthly volume of
equity-based options and monthly volume of equity-based ETF options,
see id., the Exchange's market share in equity-based options
increased from 6.09% for the month of November 2024 to 8.58% for the
month of November 2025.
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The Exchange believes that the proposed waiver of the Cap reflects
this competitive environment because it is designed to continue to
incent Floor Brokers to direct manual and QCC transactions to the
Exchange, to provide liquidity and to attract order flow. To the extent
that Floor Brokers are encouraged to utilize the Exchange as a primary
trading venue for all transactions, all Exchange market participants
stand to benefit from the improved market quality and increased
opportunities for price improvement. The Exchange notes that it
operates in a highly competitive market in which market participants
can readily favor
[[Page 4138]]
competing venues. In such an environment, the Exchange must continually
review, and consider adjusting, its fees and credits to remain
competitive with other exchanges. For the reasons described above, the
Exchange believes that the proposed rule change reflects this
competitive environment.
C. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement on Comments on the Proposed
Rule Change Received From Members, Participants, or Others
No written comments were solicited or received with respect to the
proposed rule change.
III. Date of Effectiveness of the Proposed Rule Change and Timing for
Commission Action
The foregoing rule change is effective upon filing pursuant to
Section 19(b)(3)(A) \16\ of the Act and subparagraph (f)(2) of Rule
19b-4 \17\ thereunder, because it establishes a due, fee, or other
charge imposed by the Exchange.
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\16\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A).
\17\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4(f)(2).
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At any time within 60 days of the filing of such proposed rule
change, the Commission summarily may temporarily suspend such rule
change if it appears to the Commission that such action is necessary or
appropriate in the public interest, for the protection of investors, or
otherwise in furtherance of the purposes of the Act. If the Commission
takes such action, the Commission shall institute proceedings under
Section 19(b)(2)(B) \18\ of the Act to determine whether the proposed
rule change should be approved or disapproved.
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\18\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(2)(B).
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IV. Solicitation of Comments
Interested persons are invited to submit written data, views and
arguments concerning the foregoing, including whether the proposed rule
change is consistent with the Act. Comments may be submitted by any of
the following methods:
Electronic Comments
<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#5624233a337b35393b3b333822251625333578313920"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="81f3f4ede4ace2eeecece4eff5f2c1f2e4e2afe6eef7">[email protected]</span></a>. Please include
file number SR-NYSEAMER-2026-05 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-NYSEAMER-2026-05. This
file number should be included on the subject line if email is used. To
help the Commission process and review your comments more efficiently,
please use only one method. The Commission will post all comments on
the Commission's internet website (<a href="https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml">https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml</a>). Copies of the filing will be available for inspection and
copying at the principal office of the Exchange. Do not include
personal identifiable information in submissions; you should submit
only information that you wish to make available publicly. We may
redact in part or withhold entirely from publication submitted material
that is obscene or subject to copyright protection. All submissions
should refer to file number SR-NYSEAMER-2026-05 and should be submitted
on or before February 20, 2026.
For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets,
pursuant to delegated authority.\19\
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\19\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(12).
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Sherry R. Haywood,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2026-01824 Filed 1-29-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P
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