Notice2026-08275
Self-Regulatory Organizations; NYSE Arca, Inc.; Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change To Modify the NYSE Arca Options Fee Schedule Regarding the Firm and Broker Dealer Monthly Fee Cap and the Combined Cap on Submitting Broker Credits Paid for QCC Trades and Floor Broker Rebates Paid Through the Manual Billable Rebate Program
Primary source
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Published
April 29, 2026
Issuing agencies
Securities and Exchange Commission
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 82 (Wednesday, April 29, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 82 (Wednesday, April 29, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23125-23127]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-08275]
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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
[Release No. 34-105305; File No. SR-NYSEARCA-2026-39]
Self-Regulatory Organizations; NYSE Arca, Inc.; Notice of Filing
and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change To Modify the
NYSE Arca Options Fee Schedule Regarding the Firm and Broker Dealer
Monthly Fee Cap and the Combined Cap on Submitting Broker Credits Paid
for QCC Trades and Floor Broker Rebates Paid Through the Manual
Billable Rebate Program
April 24, 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 April 15, 2026, NYSE Arca, Inc. (``NYSE Arca'' 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 Arca Options Fee Schedule
(``Fee Schedule'') regarding the Firm and Broker Dealer Monthly Fee Cap
(the ``Monthly Fee Cap'') and the maximum combined Floor Broker credits
paid for QCC trades and rebates paid through the Manual Billable Rebate
Program (the ``FB Cap''). The Exchange proposes to implement the fee
changes effective April 15, 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 Exchange proposes to amend the Fee Schedule to modify the
Monthly Fee Cap and the FB Cap. The Exchange proposes to implement the
rule change on April 15, 2026.\4\
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\4\ The Exchange originally filed to amend the Fee Schedule on
March 31, 2026 (SR-NYSEARCA-2026-36). SR-NYSEARCA-2026-36 was
withdrawn on April 8, 2026, and replaced on April 8, 2026 (SR-
NYSARCA-2026-37). SR-NYSARCA-2026-37 was withdrawn on April 15, 2026
and replaced with this filing.
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The Monthly Fee Cap
The Monthly Fee Cap imposes a cap of $250,000 per month on combined
(a) Firm Proprietary Fees for Manual (Open Outcry) Executions, (b)
Broker Dealer Fees for transactions in standard option contracts
cleared in the customer range for Manual (Open Outcry) Executions, and
(c) QCC transactions exclusive of Strategy Executions, Royalty Fees and
firm trades executed via a Joint Back Office agreement. Once a Firm or
Broker Dealer has reached the Monthly Fee Cap, the Exchange charges an
incremental service fee of $0.01 per contract for Manual Transactions,
except for the execution of a QCC order.
The Exchange proposes to increase the incremental service fee--
which is charged for Manual transactions once the Monthly Fee Cap has
been reached--from $0.01 to $0.02 and to extend the proposed
incremental service fee of $0.02 per contract to also apply to QCC
transactions. Royalty Fees and fees or volumes associated with Strategy
Executions will continue to be excluded from the calculation of fees
towards the Firm Monthly Fee Cap. The service fee will not apply to
manual executions for Firm Facilitations and Broker Dealers
facilitating a Customer or Professional Customer, which will continue
to be executed at the rate of $0.00 per contract regardless of whether
a Firm or Broker Dealer has reached the Monthly Fee Cap.\5\
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\5\ See Fee Schedule, NYSE Arca Options: Trade-Related Charges
for Standard Options, Transaction Fee For Manual Executions--Per
Contract (applying a $0.00 transaction fee for Firm Facilitation and
Broker Dealer facilitating a Customer or Professional Customer).
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The Exchange believes that the proposed change, despite increasing
the incremental service fee for Manual transactions and QCC
transactions, would continue to permit the Monthly Fee Cap to
incentivize Firms and Broker Dealers to direct order flow to the
Exchange to receive the benefits of a cap on their Manual transaction
fees. The Exchange notes that the increase would be consistent with a
similar incremental fee charged by its affiliate, NYSE American LLC, on
its member reaching its $250,000 firm monthly fee cap.\6\
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\6\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 96879 (February 10,
2023), 88 FR 10153 (February 16, 2023) (SR-NYSEAMER-2023-13) (Notice
of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change to
Modify the NYSE American Options Fee Schedule).
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FB Cap
The FB Cap is a limit on the maximum combined Floor Broker credits
paid for QCC trades and rebates paid through the Manual Billable Rebate
Program of $3,000,000 per month per Floor Broker firm.\7\ In March
2026, in response to elevated volumes on the Exchange, the Exchange
waived the FB Cap to allow Floor Broker firms to continue to send
credit/rebate-
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generating order flow to the Exchange without concern for reaching the
FB Cap.\8\
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\7\ See Fee Schedule, Endnote 17 (providing that Submitting
Broker credits paid for QCC trades and Floor Broker rebates paid
through the Manual Billable Rebate Program shall not combine to
exceed $3,000,000 per month per firm).
\8\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 105088 (March 26,
2026), 91 FR 16052 (March 31, 2026) (SR-NYSEARCA-2026-32) (Notice of
Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change to
Modify the NYSE Arca Options Fee Schedule to Waive the Combined Cap
on Submitting Broker Credits Paid for QCC Trades and Floor Broker
Rebates Paid Through the Manual Billable Rebate Program for the
Month of March 2026).
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For the same reason, the Exchange now proposes increasing the FB
Cap to $5,500,000 per month per Floor Broker firm, which would be
consistent with the identical increase in the FB Cap recently made by
the Exchange's affiliate, NYSE American LLC.\9\ As with its affiliate's
amendment, the proposed change is intended to incentivize Floor Brokers
to continue to direct their order flow to the Exchange, thereby
increasing liquidity to the benefit of all market participants, by
increasing the monthly cap on combined Floor Broker credits paid for
QCC trades and rebates paid through the Manual Billable Rebate
Program.\10\
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\9\ See SR-NYSEAMER-2026-25 (March 18, 2026).
\10\ The Exchange also proposes a non-substantive, clean up
change to delete language from Fee Schedule, Endnote 17, referencing
the waiver of the FB Cap for March 2026, which will have expired.
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2. Statutory Basis
The Exchange believes that the proposed rule change is consistent
with Section 6(b) of the Act,\11\ in general, and furthers the
objectives of Sections 6(b)(4) and (5) of the Act,\12\ 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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\11\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b).
\12\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(4) and (5).
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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.'' \13\
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\13\ 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 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 February 2026, the Exchange
had 10.31% market share of executed volume of multiply-listed equity
and ETF options order flow. In such a low concentrated and highly
competitive market, no single options exchange possesses significant
pricing power in the execution of option order flow.
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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 at: <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>.
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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 or reduce use of certain categories of
products, in response to fee changes. Accordingly, competitive forces
constrain options exchange transaction fees. In response to this
competitive marketplace, the Exchange has established incentives, such
as the Monthly Fee Cap and the FB Cap, to encourage market participants
to direct order flow to the Exchange.
The Monthly Fee Cap
The proposed change to the Monthly Fee Cap is reasonable in that it
would align itself with its affiliate, NYSE American LLC, which also
has a $250,000 monthly fee cap that, notwithstanding its $0.02
incremental service fee, still incentivizes Firms to direct order flow
to it. To the extent this purpose is achieved, the Exchange believes
that the proposed increase and extension of the incremental service fee
to QCC transactions would also not discourage Firms and Broker Dealers
from directing activity to the Exchange. The Exchange also believes the
proposed change is reasonable because the proposed incremental service
charge would be applicable to all Manual transactions and QCC
transactions executed by a Firm or Broker Dealer once it reaches the
fee cap.
The change will not prevent the Monthly Fee Cap from attracting
volume to the Exchange. This order flow would continue to make the
Exchange a more competitive venue for order execution, which, in turn,
promotes just and equitable principles of trade and removes impediments
to and perfects the mechanism of a free and open market and a national
market system. The Exchange notes that all market participants stand to
benefit from any increase in volume, which could promote market depth,
facilitate tighter spreads and enhance price discovery, particularly to
the extent the proposed change encourages market participants to
utilize the Exchange as a primary trading venue, and may lead to a
corresponding increase in order flow from other market participants.
Likewise, the Exchange's overall competitiveness and strengthened
market quality for all market participants would continue to improve.
In the backdrop of the competitive environment in which the Exchange
operates, the Monthly Fee Cap is a reasonable attempt by the Exchange
to increase the depth of its market and improve its market share
relative to its competitors. The Exchange's fees are constrained by
intermarket competition, as market participants can choose to direct
their order flow to any of the 18 options exchanges. The Exchange thus
believes that, despite the increase to the incremental service fee,
market participants will not be discouraged from continuing to quote
and trade actively on the Exchange. The Monthly Fee Cap will continue
to incent market participants to direct liquidity to the Exchange, and,
to the extent they continue to be incentivized to aggregate their
trading activity at the Exchange, that increased liquidity could
promote market depth, price discovery and improvement, and enhanced
order execution opportunities for all market participants.
FB Cap
The Exchange believes the proposed change to the FB Cap is
reasonable because it is designed to encourage the unique function of
Floor Brokers in facilitating the execution of open outcry orders, to
the benefit of all market participants. To the extent the proposed
increase to the amount of the FB Cap encourages Floor Brokers to
continue facilitating transactions on the Exchange (instead of on a
competing market), all market participants should benefit from
increased liquidity, and increased order flow on the Exchange, which
would
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continue to make the Exchange a more competitive venue for order
execution, thus supporting market quality for all market participants.
Finally, the FB Cap, as proposed, would apply equally to all Floor
Brokers that execute manual transactions and/or QCC transactions and
that earn rebates and credits applied toward such cap.
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.
Intramarket Competition. The Exchange believes that the proposed
$0.01 increase in the incremental service charge is not unfairly
discriminatory because it would be applicable to all similarly situated
Firms and Broker Dealers.
Similarly, the proposed change to the FB Cap is designed to
continue to attract order flow to the Exchange by offering Floor
Brokers competitive rates to continue to direct their order flow to the
Exchange, thereby increasing liquidity to the benefit of all market
participants. The proposed change to the FB Cap would apply equally to
all similarly situated Floor Brokers. To the extent that the increased
FB Cap imposes an additional competitive burden on non-Floor Brokers,
the Exchange believes that any such burden is outweighed by the fact
that Floor Brokers serve an important function in facilitating the
execution of orders 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 option exchanges if they deem fee levels at a
particular venue 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. Therefore, currently no
exchange possesses significant pricing power in the execution of
multiply listed equity and ETF options order flow. More specifically,
in February 2026, the Exchange had 10.31% market share of executed
volume of multiply listed equity and ETF options order flow.
The proposed change to the Monthly Fee Cap is intended to align
itself with the incremental service fee charged by its affiliate NYSE
American LLC. The Exchange believes that the proposed increase and
extension of the incremental service fee to QCC transactions would not
discourage Firms and Broker Dealers from directing activity to the
Exchange. Market participants will continue to quote and trade actively
on the Exchange. To the extent the Monthly Fee Cap continues to attract
Manual transactions and QCC transactions to the Exchange, the Exchange
believes it would continue to improve market quality for all market
participants on the Exchange and, as a consequence, attract more order
flow to the Exchange, thereby improving market-wide quality and price
discovery. The increased volume and liquidity would continue to 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.
The proposed change to the FB Cap is designed to continue to
incentivize Floor Brokers to direct manual and QCC transactions to the
Exchange, to provide liquidity and to attract order flow to the
Exchange. To the extent that Floor Brokers are encouraged to utilize
the Exchange as a primary trading venue for all transactions, all the
Exchange's market participants should benefit from improved market
quality and increased opportunities for price improvement.
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) \15\ of the Act and subparagraph (f)(2) of Rule
19b-4 \16\ thereunder, because it establishes a due, fee, or other
charge imposed by the Exchange.
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\15\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A).
\16\ 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) \17\ of the Act to determine whether the proposed
rule change should be approved or disapproved.
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\17\ 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#a0d2d5ccc58dc3cfcdcdc5ced4d3e0d3c5c38ec7cfd6"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="2a585f464f07494547474f445e596a594f49044d455c">[email protected]</span></a>. Please include
file number SR-NYSEARCA-2026-39 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-NYSEARCA-2026-39. 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-NYSEARCA-2026-39 and should be submitted
on or before May 20, 2026.
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\18\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(12).
For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets,
pursuant to delegated authority.\18\
Sherry R. Haywood,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2026-08275 Filed 4-28-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P
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