81 FR 54152 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; Bats EDGX Exchange, Inc.; Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change Related to Fees for Use of the Exchange's Options Platform

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Federal Register Volume 81, Issue 157 (August 15, 2016)

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 157 (Monday, August 15, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54152-54154]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2016-19324]


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

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

[Release No. 34-78522; File No. SR-BatsEDGX-2016-40]


Self-Regulatory Organizations; Bats EDGX Exchange, Inc.; Notice 
of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change Related 
to Fees for Use of the Exchange's Options Platform

August 9, 2016.
    Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 
(the ``Act''),\1\ and Rule 19b-4 thereunder,\2\ notice is hereby given 
that on July 29, 2016, Bats 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 
Exchange has designated the proposed rule change as one establishing or 
changing a member due, fee, or other charge imposed by the Exchange 
under Section 19(b)(3)(A)(ii) of the Act \3\ and Rule 19b-4(f)(2) 
thereunder,\4\ which renders the proposed rule change effective upon 
filing with the Commission. 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.
    \3\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A)(ii).
    \4\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4(f)(2).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

    The Exchange filed a proposal to amend the fee schedule applicable 
to Members \5\ and non-Members of the Exchange pursuant to EDGX Rules 
15.1(a) and (c).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \5\ The term ``Member'' is defined as ``any registered broker or 
dealer that has been admitted to membership in the Exchange.'' See 
Exchange Rule 1.5(n).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The text of the proposed rule change is available at the Exchange's 
Web site at www.batstrading.com, at the principal office of the 
Exchange, and at the Commission's Public Reference Room.

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 parts of such 
statements.

(A) Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Purpose of, and 
Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule Change

1. Purpose
    The Exchange proposes to amend its fee schedule for its equity 
options platform (``EDGX Options'') to: (i) Modify the criteria 
necessary to achieve Customer Volume Tier 5; (ii) modify criteria 
necessary to achieve Market Maker Volume Tier 7 and decrease the 
corresponding rate; and (iii) adopt a new tier entitled the ``Firm 
Penny Pilot Cross-Asset Tier''.
    The Exchange determines the reduced fee or enhanced rebate using a 
tiered pricing structure offering two tiers under footnotes 1 and 2 of 
the fee schedule, Customer Volume Tiers and Market Maker Volume Tiers, 
respectively. Under the tiers, Members that achieve certain volume 
criteria may qualify for reduced fees or enhanced rebates for Customer 
\6\ and Market Maker \7\ orders. The Exchange proposes to modify the 
criteria necessary to achieve Customer Volume Tier 5 under footnote 1, 
and modify the corresponding rate and criteria necessary to achieve 
Market Maker Volume Tier 7 under footnote 2. The Exchange also proposes 
to adopt a new tier entitled the ``Firm Penny Pilot Cross-Asset Tier'' 
under a new footnote 4.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \6\ As defined in the Exchange's fee schedule available at 
http://www.batsoptions.com/support/fee_schedule/edgx/.
    \7\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Customer Volume Tier 5. Fee codes PC and NC are currently appended 
to all Customer orders in Penny Pilot Securities \8\ and Non-Penny 
Pilot Securities,\9\ respectively, and result in a standard rebate of 
$0.05 per contract. The Customer Volume Tiers in footnote 1 consist of 
five separate tiers, each providing an enhanced rebate to a Member's 
Customer order that yields fee codes PC or NC upon satisfying monthly 
volume criteria required by the respective tier. For instance, pursuant 
to Customer Volume Tier 1, the lowest volume tier, a Member will 
receive a rebate of $0.10 per contract where the Member has an ADV \10\ 
in Customer

[[Page 54153]]

orders equal to or greater than 0.15% of average TCV.\11\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \8\ Id.
    \9\ Id.
    \10\ Id.
    \11\ As defined in the Exchange's fee schedule available at 
http://www.batsoptions.com/support/fee_schedule/edgx/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Pursuant to Customer Volume Tier 5, a Member currently will receive 
a rebate of $0.21 per contract where: (i) The Member has an ADV in 
Customer orders equal to or greater than 0.20% of average TCV; and (ii) 
the Member has an ADV in Market Maker orders equal to or greater than 
0.10% of average TCV. To encourage the entry of additional orders, the 
Exchange proposes to modify the criteria necessary to achieve Customer 
Volume Tier 5 to require that: (i) The Member has an ADV in Customer 
orders equal to or greater than 0.05% of average TCV; and (ii) the 
Member has an ADV in Customer or Market Maker orders equal to or 
greater than 0.25% of average TCV. The Exchange believes that 
decreasing the first prong's ADV requirement and expanding the second 
prong to include Customer orders, despite increasing the corresponding 
ADV requirement, will make Customer Volume Tier 5 more attainable for 
additional Members who seek to receive the increased rebate for their 
orders that yield fee codes NC or PC.
    Market Maker Volume Tier 7. Fee codes PM and NM are currently 
appended to all Market Maker orders in Penny Pilot Securities and Non-
Penny Pilot Securities, respectively, and result in a standard fee of 
$0.19 per contract. The Market Maker Volume Tiers in footnote 2 consist 
of seven separate tiers, each providing a reduced fee or rebate to a 
Member's Market Maker order that yields fee codes PM or NM upon 
satisfying the monthly volume criteria required by the respective tier. 
For instance, pursuant to Market Maker Volume Tier 1, the lowest volume 
tier, a Member will pay a reduced fee of $0.16 per contract where the 
Member has an ADV in Market Maker orders equal to or greater than 0.05% 
of average TCV.
    Pursuant to Market Maker Volume Tier 7, a Member will be charged a 
reduced fee of $0.10 per contract where the Member has an ADV in: (i) 
Customer orders equal to or greater than 0.20% of average TCV; (ii) 
Market Maker orders equal to or greater than 0.10% of average TCV. To 
encourage the entry of additional orders to the Exchange, the Exchange 
proposes to modify the criteria necessary to achieve Market Maker 
Volume Tier 7 to require that: (i) The Member has an ADV in Customer 
orders equal to or greater than 0.05% of average TCV; and (2) the 
Member has an ADV in Customer or Market Maker orders equal to or 
greater than 0.25% of average TCV. The Exchange believes that 
decreasing the first prong's ADV requirement and expanding the second 
prong to include Customer orders, despite increasing the corresponding 
ADV requirement, will make Customer Volume Tier 5 [sic] more attainable 
for additional Members who seek to receive the increased rebate for 
their orders that yield fee codes NM or PM. Additionally, the Exchange 
proposes to reduce the fee for the Market Maker Volume Tier 7 from 
$0.10 per contract to $0.03 per contract. In conjunction with the 
proposed tier, the Exchange also proposes to update the Standard Rate 
table.
    Firm Penny Pilot Cross-Asset Tier. The Exchange proposes to amend 
its fee schedule to adopt a new tier under footnote 4 called the Firm 
Penny Pilot Cross-Asset Tier. The proposed tier would require 
participation on the Exchange's equities platform (``EDGX Equities'') 
and would provide Members a reduced fee of $0.32 per contract for 
orders that yield fee code PF \12\ where the Member: (i) Has an ADV in 
Firm \13\ orders equal to or greater than 0.10% of average TCV; and 
(ii) has on EDGX Equities an ADAV \14\ equal to or greater than 0.12% 
of average TCV. In conjunction with the proposed tier, the Exchange 
also proposes to appended footnote 4 to fee code PF in the Fee Codes 
and Associate Fees table and to update the Standard Rate table.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \12\ Fee code PF is appended to Firm orders in Penny Pilot 
Securities.
    \13\ As defined in the Exchange's fee schedule available at 
http://www.batsoptions.com/support/fee_schedule/edgx/.
    \14\ As defined in the EDGX Equities' fee schedule available at 
http://batstrading.com/support/fee_schedule/edgx/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Implementation Date
    The Exchange proposes to implement these amendments to its fee 
schedule on August 1, 2016.
2. Statutory Basis
    The Exchange believes that the proposed rule change is consistent 
with the requirements of the Act and the rules and regulations 
thereunder that are applicable to a national securities exchange, and, 
in particular, with the requirements of Section 6 of the Act.\15\ 
Specifically, the Exchange believes that the proposed rule change is 
consistent with Section 6(b)(4) of the Act,\16\ in that it provides for 
the equitable allocation of reasonable dues, fees and other charges 
among members and other persons using any facility or system which the 
Exchange operates or controls.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \15\ 15 U.S.C. 78f.
    \16\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(4).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Exchange believes its proposed fees and rebates pursuant to the 
tiered pricing structure are reasonable, fair and equitable, and non-
discriminatory. The Exchange operates in a highly competitive market in 
which market participants may readily send order flow to many competing 
venues if they deem fees at the Exchange to be excessive. As a new 
options exchange, the proposed fee structure remains intended to 
attract order flow to the Exchange by offering market participants a 
competitive yet simple pricing structure. At the same time, the 
Exchange believes it is reasonable to incrementally adopt incentives 
intended to help to contribute to the growth of the Exchange.
    Volume-based rebates such as those currently maintained on the 
Exchange have been widely adopted by options exchanges and are 
equitable because they are open to all Members on an equal basis and 
provide additional benefits or discounts that are reasonably related to 
the value of an exchange's market quality associated with higher levels 
of market activity, such as higher levels of liquidity provision and/or 
growth patterns, and introduction of higher volumes of orders into the 
price and volume discovery processes. The proposed modifications to the 
Customer Volume Tier 5 and Market Maker Volume Tier 7 and the addition 
of footnote 4, Firm Penny Pilot Cross-Asset Tier, are each intended to 
incentivize Members to send additional Customer and Market Maker orders 
to the Exchange in an effort to qualify for the enhanced rebate or 
lower fee made available by the tiers.
    The Exchange believes that the proposal to add a Firm Penny Pilot 
Cross-Asset Tier is a reasonable, fair and equitable, and not unfairly 
discriminatory allocation of fees because it will provide Members with 
an additional incentive to reach certain thresholds on both EDGX 
Options and EDGX Equities. The increased liquidity from this proposal 
also benefits all investors by deepening the EDGX Options and EDGX 
Equities liquidity pools, offering additional flexibility for all 
investors to enjoy cost savings, supporting the quality of price 
discovery, promoting market transparency and improving investor 
protection. Such pricing programs thereby reward a Member's growth 
pattern on the Exchange and such increased volume increases potential 
revenue to the Exchange, and will allow the Exchange to continue to 
provide and potentially expand the incentive

[[Page 54154]]

programs operated by the Exchange. To the extent a Member participates 
on the EDGX Options but not on EDGX Equities, the Exchange does believe 
that the proposal is still reasonable, equitably allocated and non-
discriminatory with respect to such Member based on the overall benefit 
to the Exchange resulting from the success of EDGX Equities. As noted 
above, such success allows the Exchange to continue to provide and 
potentially expand its existing incentive programs to the benefit of 
all participants on the Exchange, whether they participate on EDGX 
Equities or not. The proposed pricing program is also fair and 
equitable in that membership in EDGX Equities is available to all 
market participants which would provide them with access to the 
benefits on EDGX Equities provided by the proposed changes, as 
described above, even where a member of EDGX Equities is not 
necessarily eligible for the proposed increased rebates on the 
Exchange.
    The Exchange believes that the proposed tiers are reasonable, fair 
and equitable, and non-discriminatory, for the reasons set forth above 
with respect to volume-based pricing generally and because such changes 
will incentivize participants to further contribute to market quality. 
The proposed tiers will provide an additional way for market 
participants to qualify for enhanced rebates or reduced fees. The 
Exchange also believes that the proposed tiered pricing structure is 
consistent with pricing previously offered by the Exchange as well as 
other options exchanges and does not represent a significant departure 
from such pricing structures.\17\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \17\ See, e.g., Bats BZX Exchange, Inc. (``BZX'') Options Fee 
Schedule, Footnote 1, Customer Add Volume Tier 5, which provides an 
enhanced rebate to Customer orders on BZX Options based on both 
Customer volume and Market Maker volume. The BZX Options Fee 
Schedule is available at: http://www.batsoptions.com/support/fee_schedule/bzx/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

(B) Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement on Burden on Competition

    The Exchange believes the proposed amendments to its fee schedule 
would not impose any burden on competition that is not necessary or 
appropriate in furtherance of the purposes of the Act. To the contrary, 
the Exchange has designed the proposed amendments to its fee schedule 
to enhance its ability to compete with other exchanges. Rather, the 
proposal as a whole is a competitive proposal that is seeking to 
further the growth of the Exchange. The Exchange has structured certain 
fees and rebates proposed herein to attract certain additional volume 
in both Customer and certain Non-Customer \18\ orders, however, the 
Exchange believes that its pricing for all capacities is competitive 
with that offered by other options exchanges. Additionally, Members may 
opt to disfavor the Exchange's pricing if they believe that the 
alternatives offer them better value. Accordingly, the Exchange does 
not believe that the proposed change will impair the ability of Members 
or competing venues to maintain their competitive standing in the 
financial markets. The Exchange believes that the price changes 
contribute to, rather than burden competition, as such changes are 
broadly intended to incentivize participants to increase their 
participation on the Exchange, which will increase the liquidity and 
market quality on the Exchange and further enhance the Exchange's 
ability to compete with other exchanges.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \18\ As defined in the Exchange's fee schedule available at 
http://www.batsoptions.com/support/fee_schedule/edgx/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

    The Exchange has not solicited, and does not intend to solicit, 
comments on this proposed rule change. The Exchange has not received 
any written comments from members or other interested parties.

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 
thereunder.\20\ 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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \19\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A).
    \20\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4(f).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

     Use the Commission's Internet comment form (http://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml); or
     Send an email to [email protected]. Please include 
File Number SR-BatsEDGX-2016-40 on the subject line.

Paper Comments

     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-BatsEDGX-2016-40. 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 Web site (http://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml). Copies of the submission, all subsequent amendments, all 
written statements with respect to the proposed rule change that are 
filed with the Commission, and all written communications relating to 
the proposed rule change between the Commission and any person, other 
than those that may be withheld from the public in accordance with the 
provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552, will be available for Web site viewing and 
printing in the Commission's Public Reference Room, 100 F Street NE., 
Washington, DC 20549, on official business days between the hours of 
10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Copies of such filing will also be available 
for inspection and copying at the principal office of the Exchange. All 
comments received will be posted without change; the Commission does 
not edit personal identifying information from submissions. You should 
submit only information that you wish to make available publicly. All 
submissions should refer to File Number SR-BatsEDGX-2016-40 and should 
be submitted on or before September 6, 2016.\21\

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

    \21\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(12).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Robert W. Errett,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2016-19324 Filed 8-12-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 8011-01-P