Notice2026-05014
Self-Regulatory Organizations; Cboe EDGX Exchange, Inc.; Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change To Amend Its Fees Schedule To Amend the Customer Volume Tier and the Market Maker Volume Tier Programs, and To Eliminate the Firm Penny Program Cross-Asset Tier Program
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
March 16, 2026
Issuing agencies
Securities and Exchange Commission
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 50 (Monday, March 16, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 50 (Monday, March 16, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12645-12649]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-05014]
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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
[Release No. 34-104971; File No. SR-CboeEDGX-2026-010]
Self-Regulatory Organizations; Cboe EDGX Exchange, Inc.; Notice
of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change To
Amend Its Fees Schedule To Amend the Customer Volume Tier and the
Market Maker Volume Tier Programs, and To Eliminate the Firm Penny
Program Cross-Asset Tier Program
March 11, 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 March 2, 2026, Cboe EDGX Exchange, Inc. (the ``Exchange'' or
``EDGX'') filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission
(``Commission'') the proposed rule change as described in Items I, II,
and III below, which Items have been prepared by the Exchange. The
Commission is publishing this notice to solicit comments on the
proposed rule change from interested persons.
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\1\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).
\2\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4.
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I. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Terms of Substance
of the Proposed Rule Change
Cboe EDGX Exchange, Inc. (the ``Exchange'' or ``EDGX'') proposes to
amend its Fees Schedule to amend the Customer Volume Tier and the
Market Maker Volume Tier programs, and to eliminate the Firm Penny
Program Cross-Asset Tier program. The text of the proposed rule change
is provided in Exhibit 5.
The text of the proposed rule change is also available on the
Commission's website (<a href="https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml">https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml</a>), the
Exchange's website (<a href="https://www.cboe.com/us/equities/regulation/rule_filings/bzx/">https://www.cboe.com/us/equities/regulation/rule_filings/bzx/</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 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 the
Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule Change
1. Purpose
The Exchange proposes to amend its Fees Schedule, effective March
2, 2026.
The Exchange first notes that it operates in a highly competitive
market in which market participants can readily direct order flow to
competing venues if they deem fee levels at a particular venue to be
excessive or incentives to be insufficient. More specifically, the
Exchange is only one of 18 options venues to which market participants
may direct their order flow. Based on publicly available information,
no single options exchange has more than 17% of the market share.\3\
Thus, in such a low-concentrated and highly competitive market, no
single options exchange, including the Exchange, possesses significant
pricing power in the execution of option order flow. The Exchange
believes that the ever-shifting market share among the exchanges from
month to month demonstrates that market participants can shift order
flow or discontinue to reduce use of certain categories of products, in
response to fee changes. Accordingly, competitive forces constrain the
Exchange's transaction fees, and market participants can readily trade
on competing venues if they deem pricing levels at those other venues
to be more favorable.
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\3\ See Cboe Global Markets U.S. Options Market Monthly Volume
Summary (February 19, 2026), available at <a href="https://markets.cboe.com/us/options/market_statistics/">https://markets.cboe.com/us/options/market_statistics/</a>.
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The Exchange's Fees Schedule sets forth standard rebates and rates
applied per contract. For example, the Exchange provides standard
rebates ranging from $0.01 up to $0.22 per contract for Customer orders
in Penny and Non-Penny Securities. The Fee Codes and Associated Fees
section of the Fees Schedule also provides for certain fee codes
associated with certain order types and market participants that
provide for various other fees or rebates. For example, the Exchange
provides a rebate of $0.01 per contract for Customer orders that remove
liquidity, in Non-Penny Securities, yielding fee code NC; provides a
rebate of $0.01 per contract for Customer orders that remove liquidity,
in Penny Securities, yielding fee code PC; provides a rebate of $0.01
per contract for Customer (contra Non-Customer) orders that add
liquidity, yielding fee code CA; assesses a fee of $0.20 per contract
for Market Maker orders that add liquidity, in Penny Securities,
yielding fee code PM; assesses a fee of $0.20 per contract for Market
Maker orders that add liquidity, in Non-Penny Securities, yielding fee
code NM; and Additionally, in response to the competitive environment,
the Exchange also offers tiered pricing, which provides Members with
opportunities to qualify for higher rebates or reduced fees where
certain volume criteria and thresholds are met. Tiered pricing provides
an incremental incentive for Members to strive for higher tier levels,
which provides increasingly higher benefits or discounts for satisfying
increasingly more stringent criteria.
Customer Volume Tiers
The Exchange proposes to amend Footnote 1 (Customer Volume Tiers),
applicable to orders yielding fee codes PC, NC, and CA. Pursuant to
Footnote 1 of the Fee Schedule, the Exchange currently offers six
Customer Volume Tiers that provide rebates between $0.10 and $0.22 per
contract for qualifying customer orders yielding fee codes PC, NC and
CA where a Member meets the respective tiers' required criteria.\4\ The
Exchange proposes to update the Customer Volume Tiers by (1)
eliminating the Customer Cross-Asset Tier, (2) adopting a new Tier 5,
and (3) amending the required criteria for current Tier 5.
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\4\ See Cboe EDGX U.S. Options Exchange Fees Schedule, Footnote
1, Customer Volume Tiers.
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Currently, under the Customer Cross-Asset Tier, the Exchange
provides a rebate of $0.18 per contract if a Member has (1) an ADV \5\
in Customer orders greater than or equal to 1.75% of
[[Page 12646]]
average OCV; \6\ (2) an ADAV \7\ in Simple Customer Non-Crossing orders
yielding fee code CA greater than or equal to 0.55% of average OCV; (3)
an ADV in Firm orders greater than or equal to 0.20% of average OCV;
and (4) has on EDGX Equities (the Exchange's equities platform) an ADAV
greater than or equal to 0.45% of average TCV.\8\ The Exchange proposes
to eliminate the Customer Cross-Asset Tier.
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\5\ ``ADV'' means average daily volume calculated as the number
of contracts added or removed, combined, per day. ADV is calculated
on a monthly basis. See Cboe EDGX Options Exchange Fee Schedule.
\6\ ``OCV'' means the total equity and ETF options volume that
clears in the Customer range at the Options Clearing Corporation
(``OCC'') for the month for which the fees apply, excluding volume
on any day that the Exchange experiences an Exchange System
Disruption and on any day with a scheduled early market close. See
Cboe EDGX Options Exchange Fee Schedule.
\7\ ``ADAV'' means average daily added volume calculated as the
number of contracts added. ADAV is calculated on a monthly basis.
See Cboe EDGX Options Exchange Fee Schedule.
\8\ ``TCV'' means total consolidated volume calculated as the
volume reported by all exchanges to the consolidated transaction
reporting plan for the month for which the fees apply, excluding
volume on any day that the Exchange experiences an Exchange System
Disruption and on any day with a scheduled early market close. See
Cboe EDGX Options Exchange Fee Schedule.
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Next, the Exchange proposes to amend the Customer Volume Tier
program to add a new Tier 5.\9\ Under the proposed Tier 5, the Exchange
would provide a rebate of $0.20 per contract if a Member has (1) an ADV
in Customer orders greater than or equal to 2.00% of average OCV; (2)
an ADAV in Simple Customer Non-Crossing orders yielding fee code CA
greater than or equal to 0.75% of average OCV; and (3) an ADV in
Customer Crossing orders greater than or equal to 0.75% of average OCV.
The Exchange also proposes a corresponding non-substantive amendment to
update current Tier 5 to Tier 6.
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\9\ The Exchange proposes to add this tier as described in the
table in Footnote 1 and add the amount of the rebate in the Standard
Rates table.
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Finally, the Exchange proposes to amend the required criteria for
this Tier 6 (current Tier 5). Under Tier 6, as amended, the Exchange
provides a rebate of $0.22 per contract if a Member has (1) an ADV in
Customer orders greater than or equal to 2.00% of average OCV; (2) an
ADAV in Simple Customer Non-Crossing orders yielding fee code CA
greater than or equal to 1.25% of average OCV; and (3) a QCC agency
Volume greater than or equal to 2,000,000 contracts per month, with
both sides of each transaction being Non-Customer, Non-Professional.
The Exchange proposes to amend the required criteria for Tier 6 so
that to qualify, Members must have (1) an ADV in Customer orders
greater than or equal to 2.00% of average OCV; and (2) an ADAV in
Simple Customer Non-Crossing orders yielding fee code CA greater than
or equal to 1.25% of average OCV.
Market Maker Volume Tiers
The Exchange also proposes to amend Footnote 2 (Market Maker Volume
Tiers), applicable to orders yielding fee codes PM and NM. Pursuant to
Footnote 2 of the Fees Schedule, the Exchange currently offers six
Market Maker Volume Tiers which provide reduced fees between $0.02 and
$0.17 per contract for qualifying Market Makers orders that yield fee
code PM or NM where a Member meets the respective tiers' required
criteria.\10\ The Exchange proposes to amend the Market Maker Volume
Tiers by (1) eliminating Tier 1 [sic] and (2) amending required
criteria for current Tiers 5 and 6.
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\10\ See Cboe EDGX U.S. Options Exchange Fees Schedule, Footnote
2, Market Maker Volume Tiers.
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Currently, under Market Maker Volume Tier 2, the Exchange provides
a reduced fee of $0.13 per contract for a Member's qualifying orders
(i.e., yielding fee code PM or NM) if a Member has (1) an ADV in Market
Maker orders greater than or equal to 0.15% of average OCV; (2) a step
up ADAV in Market Maker orders from July 2019 greater than or equal to
0.10% of average OCV; and (3) has on EDGX Equities an ADAV greater than
or equal to 0.30% of average TCV. The Exchange proposes to eliminate
Tier 2. The Exchange also proposes a corresponding non-substantive
amendment to update current Tiers 3, 4, 5, and 6 to Tiers 2, 3, 4, and
5, respectively.
The Exchange also proposes to amend the required criteria under
Tiers 4 and 5, as amended (current Tiers 5 and 6, respectively).
Currently, to qualify for Tier 4, a Member must have an ADV in Customer
orders greater than or equal to 1.20% of average OCV, and to qualify
for Tier 5, a Member must have an ADV in Customer orders greater than
or equal to 1.45% of average OCV. The Exchange propose to amend the
required criteria so that to qualify for Tier 4 (current Tier 5)
Members must have an ADV in Market Maker orders of greater than or
equal to 1.00% (instead of 1.20%) of average OCV, and to qualify for
Tier 5 (current Tier 6), Members must have an ADV in Market Maker
orders of greater than or equal to 1.25% (instead of 1.45%) of average
OCV.
Firm Penny Program Cross-Asset Tier
Pursuant to Footnote 4 of the Fees Schedule, the Exchange currently
offers a Firm Penny Program Cross-Asset Tier which requires
participation on EDGX Equities and provides Members a reduced fee of
$0.32 per contract for orders that yield fee code PF \11\ where the
Member: (i) has an ADV in Firm \12\ orders equal to or greater than
0.15% of average TCV [sic]; and (ii) has on EDGX Equities an ADAV equal
to or greater than 0.12% of average TCV. The Exchange proposes to
eliminate the Firm Penny Program Cross-Asset Tier.\13\
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\11\ Fee code `PF' is appended to Firm orders in Penny
Securities; the Exchange assesses a standard transaction fee of
$0.45 per contract for orders which yield fee code `PF'. See Cboe
EDGX Options Exchange Fee Schedule.
\12\ ``Firm'' applies to any order for the proprietary account
of an OCC clearing member. See Cboe EDGX Options Exchange Fee
Schedule.
\13\ The Exchange proposes to eliminate the tier as described in
Footnote 4 and market Footnote 4 as ``Reserved.'' The Exchange also
proposes to eliminate the rebate in the Standard Rates table and to
delete the reference to Footnote 4 appended to fee code PF within
the Fee Codes and Associated Fees table.
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2. Statutory Basis
The Exchange believes the proposed rule change is consistent with
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the ``Act'') and the rules and
regulations thereunder applicable to the Exchange and, in particular,
the requirements of Section 6(b) of the Act.\14\ Specifically, the
Exchange believes the proposed rule change is consistent with the
Section 6(b)(5) \15\ requirements that the rules of an exchange be
designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices, to
promote just and equitable principles of trade, to foster cooperation
and coordination with persons engaged in regulating, clearing,
settling, processing information with respect to, and facilitating
transactions in securities, to remove impediments to and perfect the
mechanism of a free and open market and a national market system, and,
in general, to protect investors and the public interest. Additionally,
the Exchange believes the proposed rule change is consistent with the
Section 6(b)(5) \16\ requirement that the rules of an exchange not be
designed to permit unfair discrimination between customers, issuers,
brokers, or dealers. The Exchange also believes the proposed rule
change is consistent with Section 6(b)(4) of the Act,\17\ which
requires that Exchange rules provide for the equitable allocation of
reasonable dues, fees, and other charges among its Members and other
persons using its facilities.
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\14\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b).
\15\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5).
\16\ Id.
\17\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(4).
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As described above, the Exchange operates in a highly competitive
market in which market participants can readily direct order flow to
competing
[[Page 12647]]
venues if they deem fee levels at a particular venue to be excessive or
incentives to be insufficient. The proposed rule change reflects a
competitive pricing structure designed to incentivize market
participants to direct their order flow to the Exchange, which the
Exchange believes would enhance market quality to the benefit of all
market participants. The Exchange is only one of several options venues
to which market participants may direct their order flow, and it
represents a small percentage of the overall market. The proposed fee
changes reflect a competitive pricing structure designed to incentivize
market participants to direct their order flow, which the Exchange
believes would enhance market quality to the benefit of all Members.
Customer Volume Tiers
The Exchange believes the proposal to update the Customer Volume
Tiers by (1) eliminating the Customer Cross-Asset Tier, (2) adopting a
new Tier 5, and (3) amending the required criteria for Tier 6 (i.e.,
current Tier 5) is reasonable, equitable and not unfairly
discriminatory.
The Exchange believes that it is reasonable and equitable to
eliminate the Customer Cross-Asset Tier, because the Exchange is not
required to maintain this tier or provide Members an opportunity to
receive reduced fees or enhanced rebates. No Members are currently
satisfying the criteria under this tier, and the Exchange now wishes to
consolidate this tiered pricing program and redirect resources and
funding into other programs and tiers intended to incentivize increased
order flow. Further, Members still have other opportunities to obtain
rebates via the remaining Customer Volume Tiers.
The Exchange believes that eliminating Customer Cross-Asset Tier is
equitable and not unfairly discriminatory because it applies uniformly
to all Members, in that the tier will not be available for any Member.
The Exchange also notes that the proposed change will not adversely
impact any Member's ability to qualify for other rebate tiers. Further,
the remaining Customer Volume Tiers will continue to apply uniformly to
all qualifying Members, in that all Members that submit the requisite
order flow per each tier program have the opportunity to compete for
and achieve the available tiers.
The Exchange believes the proposed changes to the Customer Volume
Rebate Tier program are reasonable because they continue to provide
opportunities for Members to receive higher rebates by providing for
incrementally increasing volume-based criteria they can reach for. The
Exchange believes the tiers, as modified, continue to serve as a
reasonable means to encourage Members to increase their liquidity on
the Exchange, particularly in connection with additional Customer Order
flow to the Exchange in order to benefit from the proposed enhanced
rebates. The Exchange also notes that any overall increased liquidity
that may result from the proposed tier incentives benefits all
investors by offering additional flexibility for all investors to enjoy
cost savings, supporting the quality of price discovery, promoting
market transparency and improving investor protection. The Exchange
also believes the proposed change to adopt a new Customer Volume Tier 5
is reasonable because it provides an opportunity for Members to receive
a rebate by providing alternative criteria for which they can reach.
The Exchange believes the proposed criteria remain commensurate
with the corresponding enhanced rebates. The Exchange believes the
revised criteria will continue to encourage Members to send additional
Customer orders to the Exchange. Rebates that are designed to
incentivize add volume order flow may increase transactions on the
Exchange, which the Exchange believes incentivizes liquidity providers
to submit additional liquidity and execution opportunities. As noted
above, an overall increase in activity deepens the Exchange's liquidity
pool, offers additional cost savings, supports the quality of price
discovery, promotes market transparency and improves market quality for
all investors.
The Exchange believes that the proposed changes to the Customer
Volume Tier program represent an equitable allocation of fees and is
not unfairly discriminatory because Members will be eligible for these
tiers and the corresponding enhanced rebates will apply uniformly to
all Members that reach the proposed tier criteria. The Exchange
believes that a number of market participants have a reasonable
opportunity to satisfy the tiers' criteria as modified. While the
Exchange has no way of knowing whether this proposed rule change would
definitively result in any particular Member qualifying for new Tier 5
and Tier 6, the Exchange anticipates at least two Members meeting, or
being reasonably able to meet, both the new Tier 5 and revised Tier 6
criteria; however, the proposed tier is open to any Member that
satisfies the tiers' criteria. The Exchange also notes that the
proposed changes will not adversely impact any Member's pricing or
their ability to qualify for other rebate tiers. Rather, should a
Member not meet the proposed criteria, the Member will merely not
receive the corresponding enhanced rebates.
Market Maker Volume Tiers
The Exchange believes its proposal to update the Market Maker
Volume Tiers by Market Maker Volume Tiers by eliminating Tier 2 and
amending required criteria for Tiers 4 and 5 as amended (i.e., current
Tiers 5 and 6, respectively) is reasonable, equitable, and not unfairly
discriminatory.
Specifically, the Exchange believes that it is reasonable and
equitable to eliminate Market Maker Volume Tier 2, because the Exchange
is not required to maintain this tier or provide Members an opportunity
to receive reduced fees or enhanced rebates. No Members are currently
satisfying the criteria under this tier, and the Exchange wishes to
consolidate this tiered pricing program and redirect resources and
funding into other programs and tiers intended to incentivize increased
order flow. Further, Members still have other opportunities to obtain
reduced fees via the remaining Market Maker Volume Tiers.
The Exchange believes that eliminating Market Maker Volume Tier 2
is equitable and not unfairly discriminatory because it applies
uniformly to all Market Makers, in that, such tier will not be
available for any Market Maker. The Exchange also notes that the
proposed change will not adversely impact any Member's pricing or their
ability to qualify for other rebate tiers. Further, the remaining
Market Maker Volume Tiers will continue to apply uniformly to all
qualifying Members, in that all Members that submit the requisite order
flow per each tier program have the opportunity to compete for and
achieve the available tiers.
Further, the Exchange believes the proposed changes to the required
criteria for Tiers 4 and 5 as amended (i.e., current Tiers 5 and 6,
respectively) are reasonable because they continue to provide
opportunities for Members to receive reduced fees by providing for
incrementally increasing volume-based criteria they can reach for. The
proposed changes ease the requirement to achieve applicable tier
thresholds, which the Exchange believes will continue to serve as a
reasonable means to encourage Members to increase their liquidity on
the Exchange, particularly in connection with additional Market Maker
order flow to the Exchange, to the benefit of investors.
[[Page 12648]]
The Exchange believes the proposed criteria remain commensurate
with the corresponding enhanced rebates. The Exchange believes the
revised criteria will continue to encourage Members to send additional
Market Maker orders to the Exchange. Greater add volume order flow may
increase transactions on the Exchange, which the Exchange believes
incentivizes liquidity providers to submit additional liquidity and
execution opportunities. An overall increase in activity deepens the
Exchange's liquidity pool, offers additional cost savings, supports the
quality of price discovery, promotes market transparency and improves
market quality for all investors.
Finally, the Exchange believes the proposed changes to the Market
Maker Volume Tiers are equitable and not unfairly discriminatory
because they apply uniformly to all Market Makers, who will have the
opportunity to meet the tiers' criteria and receive the corresponding
enhanced rebate for each tier if such criteria is met. Further, the
Exchange believes that it is equitable and not unfairly discriminatory
to apply the proposed changes to Market Makers as compared to other
market participants, because Market Makers, unlike other market
participants, take on a number of obligations, including quoting
obligations, which other market participants do not have. Further,
these rebates are intended to incentivize Market Makers to quote and
trade more on the Exchange, thereby providing more trading
opportunities for all market participants.
Without having a view of activity on other markets and off-exchange
venues, the Exchange has no way of knowing whether these proposed
changes would definitely result in any Members qualifying for reduced
fees under the Market Maker Volume Tiers, as amended. While the
Exchange has no way of predicting with certainty how the proposed
changes will impact Member activity, based on trading activity from the
prior months, the Exchange anticipates that up to one Member could
achieve Tier 4 and up to one Member could achieve Tier 5. Further, the
Exchange believes the proposed changes could incentivize Market Makers
to increase their order flow to attempt to achieve these tiers. Should
a Member not meet the proposed new criteria, the Member will merely not
receive that corresponding enhanced rebate.
Firm Penny Program Cross-Asset Tier
The Exchange believes that it is reasonable and equitable to
eliminate the Firm Penny Program Cross-Asset Tier under Footnote 4 of
the Fee Schedule. The Exchange is not required to maintain this tier or
provide Members an opportunity to receive reduced fees or enhanced
rebates. No Members are currently satisfying the criteria under this
tier, and the Exchange wishes to consolidate its pricing program and
redirect resources and funding into other programs and tiers intended
to incentivize increased order flow.
The Exchange believes that eliminating the Firm Penny Program
Cross-Asset Tier is equitable and not unfairly discriminatory because
it applies uniformly to all Members, in that, such tier will not be
available for any Member. The Exchange also notes that the proposed
change will not adversely impact any Member's ability to qualify for
other rebate tiers under the Fee Schedule.
B. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement on Burden on Competition
The Exchange does not believe that the proposed rule change will
impose any burden on competition that is not necessary or appropriate
in furtherance of the purposes of the Act. In particular, the Exchange
believes the proposed rule change does not impose any burden on
intramarket competition that is not necessary or appropriate in
furtherance of the purposes of the Act. The proposed changes apply to
all participants, as applicable. Particularly, the proposed amendments
to the Customer Volume Tiers apply uniformly to all Members, who will
have the opportunity to meet each tier's criteria under the program, as
amended, and receive the corresponding enhanced rebate for the tier if
such criteria is met. As discussed above, Customer order flow enhances
liquidity on the Exchange for the benefit of all market participants.
Specifically, Customer liquidity benefits all market participants by
providing more trading opportunities, which attracts Market Makers. An
increase in the activity of these market participants in turn
facilitates tighter spreads, which may cause an additional
corresponding increase in order flow from other market participants.
The rebates offered to Customers under the programs are intended to
attract more Customer trading volume to the Exchange.
Similarly, the proposed amendments to the Market Maker Volume Tiers
apply uniformly to all Market Makers, in that all Market Makers have
the opportunity to meet each tier's criteria under the program, as
amended, and receive the corresponding enhanced rebate for the tier if
such criteria are met. To the extent Market Makers receive a benefit
that other market participants do not, these Members in their role as
Market Makers on the Exchange have different obligations and are held
to different standards. For example, Market Makers play a crucial role
in providing active and liquid markets in their appointed products,
thereby providing a robust market which benefits all market
participants.
For each of the incentive programs, all Members are able to
increase their applicable order flow to attempt to achieve each of the
program's respective tiers. Should a Member not meet the criteria under
a program, the Member will merely not receive that corresponding
enhanced rebate.
Finally, the proposal to eliminate the Firm Penny Program Cross-
Asset Tier applies uniformly to all participants as applicable, in
that, such tier will not be available to any participants.
The Exchange also believes the proposed rule change does not impose
any burden on intermarket competition that is not necessary or
appropriate in furtherance of the purposes of the Act. As previously
discussed, the Exchange operates in a highly competitive market.
Members have numerous alternative venues they may participate on and
direct their order flow, including 17 other options exchanges.
Additionally, the Exchange represents a small percentage of the overall
market. Based on publicly available information, no single options
exchange has more than 17% of the market share.\18\ Therefore, no
exchange possesses significant pricing power in the execution of order
flow. Indeed, participants can readily choose to send their orders to
other exchanges if they deem fee levels at those other venues to be
more favorable. Moreover, the Commission has repeatedly expressed its
preference for competition over regulatory intervention in determining
prices, products, and services in the securities markets. Specifically,
in Regulation NMS, the Commission highlighted the importance of market
forces in determining prices and SRO revenues and, also, recognized
that current regulation of the market system ``has been remarkably
successful in promoting market competition in its broader forms that
are most important to investors and listed companies.'' The fact that
this market is competitive has also long been recognized by the courts.
In NetCoalition v. Securities and Exchange Commission, the D.C. Circuit
[[Page 12649]]
stated as follows: ``[n]o one disputes that competition for order flow
is `fierce.' . . . As the SEC explained, `[i]n the U.S. national market
system, buyers and sellers of securities, and the broker-dealers that
act as their order-routing agents, have a wide range of choices of
where to route orders for execution'; [and] `no exchange can afford to
take its market share percentages for granted' because `no exchange
possesses a monopoly, regulatory or otherwise, in the execution of
order flow from broker dealers'. . . .''. Accordingly, the Exchange
does not believe its proposed fee change imposes any burden on
competition that is not necessary or appropriate in furtherance of the
purposes of the Act.
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\18\ See Cboe Global Markets U.S. Options Monthly Market Volume
Summary (February 19, 2026), available at <a href="https://markets.cboe.com/us/options/market_statistics/">https://markets.cboe.com/us/options/market_statistics/</a>.
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C. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement on Comments on the Proposed
Rule Change Received From Members, Participants, or Others
The Exchange neither solicited nor received comments on the
proposed rule change.
III. Date of Effectiveness of the Proposed Rule Change and Timing for
Commission Action
The foregoing rule change has become effective pursuant to Section
19(b)(3)(A) of the Act \19\ and paragraph (f) of Rule 19b-4 \20\
thereunder. At any time within 60 days of the filing of the proposed
rule change, the Commission summarily may temporarily suspend such rule
change if it appears to the Commission that such action is necessary or
appropriate in the public interest, for the protection of investors, or
otherwise in furtherance of the purposes of the Act. If the Commission
takes such action, the Commission will institute proceedings to
determine whether the proposed rule change should be approved or
disapproved.
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\19\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A).
\20\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4(f).
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IV. Solicitation of Comments
Interested persons are invited to submit written data, views and
arguments concerning the foregoing, including whether the proposed rule
change is consistent with the Act. Comments may be submitted by any of
the following methods:
Electronic Comments
<bullet> Use the Commission's internet comment form (<a href="https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml">https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml</a>); or
<bullet> Send an email to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#a1d3d4cdc48cc2ceccccc4cfd5d2e1d2c4c28fc6ced7"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="9ceee9f0f9b1fff3f1f1f9f2e8efdceff9ffb2fbf3ea">[email protected]</span></a>. Please include
file number SR-CboeEDGX-2026-010 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-CboeEDGX-2026-010. 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-CboeEDGX-2026-010
and should be submitted on or before April 6, 2026.
For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets,
pursuant to delegated authority.\21\
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\21\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(12).
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Vanessa A. Countryman,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2026-05014 Filed 3-13-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on March 16, 2026.
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