81_FR_83532 81 FR 83308 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; NYSE MKT LLC; Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed Change Amending the Fees for NYSE MKT BBO and NYSE MKT Trades To Lower the Enterprise Fee

81 FR 83308 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; NYSE MKT LLC; Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed Change Amending the Fees for NYSE MKT BBO and NYSE MKT Trades To Lower the Enterprise Fee

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Federal Register Volume 81, Issue 224 (November 21, 2016)

Page Range83308-83312
FR Document2016-27894

Federal Register, Volume 81 Issue 224 (Monday, November 21, 2016)
[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 224 (Monday, November 21, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 83308-83312]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2016-27894]


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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

[Release No. 34-79314; File No. SR-NYSEMKT-2016-101]


Self-Regulatory Organizations; NYSE MKT LLC; Notice of Filing and 
Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed Change Amending the Fees for NYSE 
MKT BBO and NYSE MKT Trades To Lower the Enterprise Fee

November 15, 2016.
    Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) \1\ of the Securities Exchange Act of 
1934 (the ``Act'') \2\ and Rule 19b-4 thereunder,\3\ notice is hereby 
given that, on November 1, 2016, NYSE MKT LLC (the ``Exchange'' or 
``NYSE MKT'') filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the 
``Commission'') the proposed rule change as described in Items I, II, 
and III 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 amend the fees for NYSE MKT BBO and NYSE 
MKT Trades to lower the Enterprise Fee. The proposed change is 
available on the Exchange's Web site at www.nyse.com, at the principal 
office of the Exchange, and at the Commission's Public Reference Room.

[[Page 83309]]

I. 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 fees for NYSE MKT BBO and NYSE 
MKT Trades market data products,\4\ as set forth on the NYSE MKT 
Equities Proprietary Market Data Fee Schedule (``Fee Schedule''). 
Specifically, the Exchange proposes to lower the Enterprise Fee. The 
Exchange proposes to make the fee change effective November 1, 2016.
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    \4\ See Securities Exchange Act Release Nos. 61936 (April 16, 
2010), 74 [sic] FR 21088 (April 22, 2010) (SR-NYSEAmex-2010-35) 
(notice--NYSE MKT BBO and NYSE MKT Trades) and 62187 (May 27, 2010), 
75 FR 31500 (June 3, 2010) (SR-NYSEAmex-2010-35) (approval order--
NYSE MKT BBO and NYSE MKT Trades).
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    The Exchange currently charges an enterprise fee of $15,000 per 
month for an unlimited number of professional and non-professional 
users for each of NYSE MKT BBO and NYSE MKT Trades.\5\ A single 
Enterprise Fee applies for clients receiving both NYSE MKT BBO and NYSE 
MKT Trades.\6\ The Exchange proposes to lower the enterprise fee to 
$3,000 per month.
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    \5\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 76906 (January 14, 
2016), 81 FR 3500 (January 21, 2016) (SR-NYSEMKT-2016-04).
    \6\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 70212 (August 15, 
2013), 78 FR 51775 (August 21, 2013) (SR-NYSEMKT-2013-69).
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    As an example, under the current fee structure for per user fees, 
if a firm had 10,000 professional users who each received NYSE MKT 
Trades at $1 per month and NYSE MKT BBO at $1 per month, without the 
Enterprise Fee, the firm would be subject to $20,000 per month in 
professional user fees. Under the current pricing structure, the charge 
would be capped at $15,000 and effective November 1, 2016 it would be 
capped at $3,000.
    Under the proposed enterprise fee, the firm would pay a flat fee of 
$3,000 for an unlimited number of professional and non-professional 
users for both products. As is the case currently, a data recipient 
that pays the enterprise fee would not have to report the number of 
such users on a monthly basis.\7\ However, every six months, a data 
recipient must provide the Exchange with a count of the total number of 
natural person users of each product, including both professional and 
non-professional users.
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    \7\ Professional users currently are subject to a per display 
device count. See Securities [sic] Act Release No. 73986 (January 5, 
2015), 80 FR 1444 (January 9, 2015) (SR-NYSEMKT-2014-113).
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2. Statutory Basis
    The Exchange believes that the proposed rule change is consistent 
with the provisions of Section 6 of the Act,\8\ in general, and 
Sections 6(b)(4) and 6(b)(5) of the Act,\9\ in particular, in that it 
provides an equitable allocation of reasonable fees among users and 
recipients of the data and is not designed to permit unfair 
discrimination among customers, issuers, and brokers.
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    \8\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b).
    \9\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(4), (5).
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    The proposed fee change is also equitable and not unfairly 
discriminatory because it would apply to all data recipients that 
choose to subscribe to NYSE MKT BBO and NYSE MKT Trades.
    The proposed enterprise fees for NYSE MKT BBO and NYSE MKT Trades 
are reasonable because they could result in a fee reduction for data 
recipients with a large number of professional and nonprofessional 
users, as described in the example above. If a data recipient has a 
smaller number of professional users of NYSE MKT BBO and/or NYSE MKT 
Trades, then it may continue to use the per user fee structure. By 
reducing prices for data recipient with a large number of professional 
and non-professional users, the Exchange believes that more data 
recipients may choose to offer NYSE MKT BBO and NYSE MKT Trades, 
thereby expanding the distribution of this market data for the benefit 
of investors. The Exchange also believes that offering an enterprise 
fee expands the range of options for offering NYSE MKT BBO and NYSE MKT 
Trades and allows data recipients greater choice in selecting the most 
appropriate level of data and fees for the professional and non-
professional users they are servicing.
    The Exchange notes that NYSE MKT BBO and NYSE MKT Trades are 
entirely optional. The Exchange is not required to make NYSE MKT BBO 
and NYSE MKT Trades available or to offer any specific pricing 
alternatives to any customers, nor is any firm required to purchase 
NYSE MKT BBO and NYSE MKT Trades. Firms that do purchase NYSE MKT BBO 
and NYSE MKT Trades do so for the primary goals of using them to 
increase revenues, reduce expenses, and in some instances compete 
directly with the Exchange (including for order flow); those firms are 
able to determine for themselves whether NYSE MKT BBO and NYSE MKT 
Trades or any other similar products are attractively priced or 
not.\10\
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    \10\ See, e.g., Proposing Release on Regulation of NMS Stock 
Alternative Trading Systems, Securities Exchange Act Release No. 
76474 (Nov. 18, 2015) (File No. S7-23-15). See also, ``Brokers 
Warned Not to Steer Clients' Stock Trades Into Slow Lane,'' 
Bloomberg Business, December 14, 2015 (Sigma X dark pool to use 
direct exchange feeds as the primary source of price data).
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    Firms that do not wish to purchase NYSE MKT BBO and NYSE MKT Trades 
have a variety of alternative market data products from which to 
choose,\11\ or if NYSE MKT BBO and NYSE MKT Trades do not provide 
sufficient value to firms as offered based on the uses those firms have 
or planned to make of it, such firms may simply choose to conduct their 
business operations in ways that do not use NYSE MKT BBO and NYSE MKT 
Trades or use them at different levels or in different configurations. 
The Exchange notes that broker-dealers are not required to purchase 
proprietary market data to comply with their best execution 
obligations.\12\
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    \11\ See NASDAQ Rule 7047 (Nasdaq Basic) and BATS [sic] Rule 
11.22 (BATS TOP and Last Sale).
    \12\ See FINRA Regulatory Notice 15-46, ``Best Execution,'' 
November 2015.
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    The decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the District 
of Columbia Circuit in NetCoalition v. SEC, 615 F.3d 525 (D.C. Cir. 
2010), upheld reliance by the Securities and Exchange Commission 
(``Commission'') upon the existence of competitive market mechanisms to 
set reasonable and equitably allocated fees for proprietary market 
data:

    In fact, the legislative history indicates that the Congress 
intended that the market system `evolve through the interplay of 
competitive forces as unnecessary regulatory restrictions are 
removed' and that the SEC wield its regulatory power `in those 
situations where competition may not be sufficient,' such as in the 
creation of a `consolidated transactional reporting system.'

Id. at 535 (quoting H.R. Rep. No. 94-229 at 92 (1975), as reprinted in 
1975 U.S.C.C.A.N. 323). The court agreed with the Commission's 
conclusion that ``Congress intended that `competitive forces should 
dictate the services and

[[Page 83310]]

practices that constitute the U.S. national market system for trading 
equity securities.' '' \13\
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    \13\ NetCoalition, 615 F.3d at 535.
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    As explained below in the Exchange's Statement on Burden on 
Competition, the Exchange believes that there is substantial evidence 
of competition in the marketplace for proprietary market data and that 
the Commission can rely upon such evidence in concluding that the fees 
established in this filing are the product of competition and therefore 
satisfy the relevant statutory standards. In addition, the existence of 
alternatives to these data products, such as consolidated data and 
proprietary data from other sources, as described below, further 
ensures that the Exchange cannot set unreasonable fees, or fees that 
are unreasonably discriminatory, when vendors and subscribers can 
select such alternatives.
    As the NetCoalition decision noted, the Commission is not required 
to undertake a cost-of-service or ratemaking approach. The Exchange 
believes that, even if it were possible as a matter of economic theory, 
cost-based pricing for proprietary market data would be so complicated 
that it could not be done practically or offer any significant 
benefits.\14\
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    \14\ The Exchange believes that cost-based pricing would be 
impractical because it would create enormous administrative burdens 
for all parties and the Commission to cost-regulate a large number 
of participants and standardize and analyze extraordinary amounts of 
information, accounts, and reports. In addition, and as described 
below, it is impossible to regulate market data prices in isolation 
from prices charged by markets for other services that are joint 
products. Cost-based rate regulation would also lead to litigation 
and may distort incentives, including those to minimize costs and to 
innovate, leading to further waste. Under cost-based pricing, the 
Commission would be burdened with determining a fair rate of return, 
and the industry could experience frequent rate increases based on 
escalating expense levels. Even in industries historically subject 
to utility regulation, cost-based ratemaking has been discredited. 
As such, the Exchange believes that cost-based ratemaking would be 
inappropriate for proprietary market data and inconsistent with 
Congress's direction that the Commission use its authority to foster 
the development of the national market system, and that market 
forces will continue to provide appropriate pricing discipline. See 
Appendix C to NYSE's comments to the Commission's 2000 Concept 
Release on the Regulation of Market Information Fees and Revenues, 
which can be found on the Commission's Web site at http://www.sec.gov/rules/concept/s72899/buck1.htm.
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    In addition, the Exchange believes that the proposed fees are 
reasonable when compared to fees for comparable products offered by at 
least one other exchange. For example, Bats BYX Exchange (``BYX'') 
charges an enterprise fee of $10,000 per month for each of BYX Top and 
BYX Last Sale, which includes best bid and offer and last sale data, 
respectively.\15\ The Exchange is proposing enterprise fees that are 
less than the fees currently charged by BYX.
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    \15\ See Market Data Fees at https://www.batstrading.com/support/fee_schedule/byx/.
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    For these reasons, the Exchange believes that the proposed fees are 
reasonable, equitable, and not unfairly discriminatory.

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. An exchange's ability to 
price its proprietary market data feed products is constrained by 
actual competition for the sale of proprietary market data products, 
the joint product nature of exchange platforms, and the existence of 
alternatives to the Exchange's proprietary data.
The Existence of Actual Competition
    The market for proprietary data products is currently competitive 
and inherently contestable because there is fierce competition for the 
inputs necessary for the creation of proprietary data and strict 
pricing discipline for the proprietary products themselves. Numerous 
exchanges compete with one another for listings and order flow and 
sales of market data itself, providing ample opportunities for 
entrepreneurs who wish to compete in any or all of those areas, 
including producing and distributing their own market data. Proprietary 
data products are produced and distributed by each individual exchange, 
as well as other entities, in a vigorously competitive market. Indeed, 
the U.S. Department of Justice (``DOJ'') (the primary antitrust 
regulator) has expressly acknowledged the aggressive actual competition 
among exchanges, including for the sale of proprietary market data. In 
2011, the DOJ stated that exchanges ``compete head to head to offer 
real-time equity data products. These data products include the best 
bid and offer of every exchange and information on each equity trade, 
including the last sale.'' \16\
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    \16\ Press Release, U.S. Department of Justice, Assistant 
Attorney General Christine Varney Holds Conference Call Regarding 
NASDAQ OMX Group Inc. and IntercontinentalExchange Inc. Abandoning 
Their Bid for NYSE Euronext (May 16, 2011), available at http://www.justice.gov/iso/opa/atr/speeches/2011/at-speech-110516.html; see 
also Complaint in U.S. v. Deutsche Borse AG and NYSE Euronext, Case 
No. 11-cv-2280 (D.C. Dist.) ] 24 (``NYSE and Direct Edge compete 
head-to-head . . . in the provision of real-time proprietary equity 
data products.'').
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    Moreover, competitive markets for listings, order flow, executions, 
and transaction reports provide pricing discipline for the inputs of 
proprietary data products and therefore constrain markets from 
overpricing proprietary market data. Broker-dealers send their order 
flow and transaction reports to multiple venues, rather than providing 
them all to a single venue, which in turn reinforces this competitive 
constraint. As a 2010 Commission Concept Release noted, the ``current 
market structure can be described as dispersed and complex'' with 
``trading volume . . . dispersed among many highly automated trading 
centers that compete for order flow in the same stocks'' and ``trading 
centers offer[ing] a wide range of services that are designed to 
attract different types of market participants with varying trading 
needs.'' \17\ More recently, SEC Chair Mary Jo White has noted that 
competition for order flow in exchange-listed equities is ``intense'' 
and divided among many trading venues, including exchanges, more than 
40 alternative trading systems, and more than 250 broker-dealers.\18\
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    \17\ Concept Release on Equity Market Structure, Securities 
Exchange Act Release No. 61358 (Jan. 14, 2010), 75 FR 3594 (Jan. 21, 
2010) (File No. S7-02-10). This Concept Release included data from 
the third quarter of 2009 showing that no market center traded more 
than 20% of the volume of listed stocks, further evidencing the 
dispersal of and competition for trading activity. Id. at 3598. Data 
available on ArcaVision show that from June 30, 2013 to June 30, 
2014, no exchange traded more than 12% of the volume of listed 
stocks by either trade or dollar volume, further evidencing the 
continued dispersal of and fierce competition for trading activity. 
See https://www.arcavision.com/Arcavision/arcalogin.jsp.
    \18\ Mary Jo White, Enhancing Our Equity Market Structure, 
Sandler O'Neill & Partners, L.P. Global Exchange and Brokerage 
Conference (June 5, 2014) (available on the Commission Web site), 
citing Tuttle, Laura, 2014, ``OTC Trading: Description of Non-ATS 
OTC Trading in National Market System Stocks,'' at 7-8.
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    If an exchange succeeds in competing for quotations, order flow, 
and trade executions, then it earns trading revenues and increases the 
value of its proprietary market data products because they will contain 
greater quote and trade information. Conversely, if an exchange is less 
successful in attracting quotes, order flow, and trade executions, then 
its market data products may be less desirable to customers in light of 
the diminished content and data products offered by competing venues 
may become more attractive. Thus, competition for quotations, order 
flow, and trade executions puts significant pressure on an exchange to 
maintain both execution and data fees at reasonable levels.
    In addition, in the case of products that are also redistributed 
through market data vendors, such as Bloomberg and Thompson Reuters, 
the vendors

[[Page 83311]]

themselves provide additional price discipline for proprietary data 
products because they control the primary means of access to certain 
end users. These vendors impose price discipline based upon their 
business models. For example, vendors that assess a surcharge on data 
they sell are able to refuse to offer proprietary products that their 
end users do not or will not purchase in sufficient numbers. Vendors 
will not elect to make available NYSE MKT BBO or NYSE MKT Trades unless 
their customers request it, and customers will not elect to pay the 
proposed fees unless NYSE MKT BBO and NYSE MKT Trades can provide value 
by sufficiently increasing revenues or reducing costs in the customer's 
business in a manner that will offset the fees. All of these factors 
operate as constraints on pricing proprietary data products.
Joint Product Nature of Exchange Platform
    Transaction execution and proprietary data products are 
complementary in that market data is both an input and a byproduct of 
the execution service. In fact, proprietary market data and trade 
executions are a paradigmatic example of joint products with joint 
costs. The decision of whether and on which platform to post an order 
will depend on the attributes of the platforms where the order can be 
posted, including the execution fees, data availability and quality, 
and price and distribution of data products. Without a platform to post 
quotations, receive orders, and execute trades, exchange data products 
would not exist.
    The costs of producing market data include not only the costs of 
the data distribution infrastructure, but also the costs of designing, 
maintaining, and operating the exchange's platform for posting quotes, 
accepting orders, and executing transactions and the cost of regulating 
the exchange to ensure its fair operation and maintain investor 
confidence. The total return that a trading platform earns reflects the 
revenues it receives from both products and the joint costs it incurs.
    Moreover, an exchange's broker-dealer customers generally view the 
costs of transaction executions and market data as a unified cost of 
doing business with the exchange. A broker-dealer will only choose to 
direct orders to an exchange if the revenue from the transaction 
exceeds its cost, including the cost of any market data that the 
broker-dealer chooses to buy in support of its order routing and 
trading decisions. If the costs of the transaction are not offset by 
its value, then the broker-dealer may choose instead not to purchase 
the product and trade away from that exchange.
    Other market participants have noted that proprietary market data 
and trade executions are joint products of a joint platform and have 
common costs.\19\ The Exchange agrees with and adopts those discussions 
and the arguments therein. The Exchange also notes that the economics 
literature confirms that there is no way to allocate common costs 
between joint products that would shed any light on competitive or 
efficient pricing.\20\
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    \19\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 72153 (May 12, 
2014), 79 FR 28575, 28578 n.15 [sic] (May 16, 2014) (SR-NASDAQ-2014-
045) (``[A]ll of the exchange's costs are incurred for the unified 
purposes of attracting order flow, executing and/or routing orders, 
and generating and selling data about market activity. The total 
return that an exchange earns reflects the revenues it receives from 
the joint products and the total costs of the joint products.''). 
See also Securities Exchange Act Release No. 62907 (Sept. 14, 2010), 
75 FR 57314, 57317 (Sept. 20, 2010) (SR-NASDAQ-2010-110), and 
Securities Exchange Act Release No. 62908 (Sept. 14, 2010), 75 FR 
57321, 57324 (Sept. 20, 2010) (SR-NASDAQ-2010-111).
    \20\ See generally Mark Hirschey, Fundamentals of Managerial 
Economics, at 600 (2009) (``It is important to note, however, that 
although it is possible to determine the separate marginal costs of 
goods produced in variable proportions, it is impossible to 
determine their individual average costs. This is because common 
costs are expenses necessary for manufacture of a joint product. 
Common costs of production--raw material and equipment costs, 
management expenses, and other overhead--cannot be allocated to each 
individual by-product on any economically sound basis. . . . Any 
allocation of common costs is wrong and arbitrary.''). This is not 
new economic theory. See, e.g., F.W. Taussig, ``A Contribution to 
the Theory of Railway Rates,'' Quarterly Journal of Economics V(4) 
438, 465 (July 1891) (``Yet, surely, the division is purely 
arbitrary. These items of cost, in fact, are jointly incurred for 
both sorts of traffic; and I cannot share the hope entertained by 
the statistician of the Commission, Professor Henry C. Adams, that 
we shall ever reach a mode of apportionment that will lead to 
trustworthy results.'').
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    Analyzing the cost of market data product production and 
distribution in isolation from the cost of all of the inputs supporting 
the creation of market data and market data products will inevitably 
underestimate the cost of the data and data products because it is 
impossible to obtain the data inputs to create market data products 
without a fast, technologically robust, and well-regulated execution 
system, and system and regulatory costs affect the price of both 
obtaining the market data itself and creating and distributing market 
data products. It would be equally misleading, however, to attribute 
all of an exchange's costs to the market data portion of an exchange's 
joint products. Rather, all of an exchange's costs are incurred for the 
unified purposes of attracting order flow, executing and/or routing 
orders, and generating and selling data about market activity. The 
total return that an exchange earns reflects the revenues it receives 
from the joint products and the total costs of the joint products.
    As noted above, the level of competition and contestability in the 
market is evident in the numerous alternative venues that compete for 
order flow, including 13 equities self-regulatory organization 
(``SRO'') markets, as well as various forms of alternative trading 
systems (``ATSs''), including dark pools and electronic communication 
networks (``ECNs''), and internalizing broker-dealers. SRO markets 
compete to attract order flow and produce transaction reports via trade 
executions, and two FINRA-regulated Trade Reporting Facilities compete 
to attract transaction reports from the non-SRO venues.
    Competition among trading platforms can be expected to constrain 
the aggregate return that each platform earns from the sale of its 
joint products, but different trading platforms may choose from a range 
of possible, and equally reasonable, pricing strategies as the means of 
recovering total costs. For example, some platforms may choose to pay 
rebates to attract orders, charge relatively low prices for market data 
products (or provide market data products free of charge), and charge 
relatively high prices for accessing posted liquidity. Other platforms 
may choose a strategy of paying lower rebates (or no rebates) to 
attract orders, setting relatively high prices for market data 
products, and setting relatively low prices for accessing posted 
liquidity. For example, Bats Global Markets (``Bats'') and Direct Edge, 
which previously operated as ATSs and obtained exchange status in 2008 
and 2010, respectively, provided certain market data at no charge on 
their Web sites in order to attract more order flow, and used revenue 
rebates from resulting additional executions to maintain low execution 
charges for their users.\21\ In this environment, there is no economic 
basis for regulating maximum prices for one of the joint products in an 
industry in which suppliers face competitive constraints with regard to 
the joint offering.
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    \21\ This is simply a securities market-specific example of the 
well-established principle that in certain circumstances more sales 
at lower margins can be more profitable than fewer sales at higher 
margins; this example is additional evidence that market data is an 
inherent part of a market's joint platform.
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Existence of Alternatives
    The large number of SROs, ATSs, and internalizing broker-dealers 
that

[[Page 83312]]

currently produce proprietary data or are currently capable of 
producing it provides further pricing discipline for proprietary data 
products. Each SRO, ATS, and broker-dealer is currently permitted to 
produce and sell proprietary data products, and many currently do, 
including but not limited to the Exchange, New York Stock Exchange LLC, 
NYSE Arca, Inc. (``NYSE Arca''), NASDAQ, Bats [sic], and Direct Edge.
    The fact that proprietary data from ATSs, internalizing broker-
dealers, and vendors can bypass SROs is significant in two respects. 
First, non-SROs can compete directly with SROs for the production and 
sale of proprietary data products. By way of example, Bats [sic] and 
NYSE Arca both published proprietary data on the Internet before 
registering as exchanges. Second, because a single order or transaction 
report can appear in an SRO proprietary product, a non-SRO proprietary 
product, or both, the amount of data available via proprietary products 
is greater in size than the actual number of orders and transaction 
reports that exist in the marketplace. Indeed, in the case of NYSE MKT 
BBO and NYSE MKT Trades, the data provided through these products 
appears both in (i) real-time core data products offered by the 
Securities Information Processors (SIPs) for a fee, and (ii) free SIP 
data products with a 15-minute time delay, and finds a close substitute 
in similar products of competing venues.\22\ Because market data users 
can find suitable substitutes for most proprietary market data 
products, a market that overprices its market data products stands a 
high risk that users may substitute another source of market data 
information for its own.
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    \22\ See supra note 15.
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    Those competitive pressures imposed by available alternatives are 
evident in the Exchange's proposed pricing.
    In addition to the competition and price discipline described 
above, the market for proprietary data products is also highly 
contestable because market entry is rapid and inexpensive. The history 
of electronic trading is replete with examples of entrants that swiftly 
grew into some of the largest electronic trading platforms and 
proprietary data producers: Archipelago, Bloomberg Tradebook, Island, 
RediBook, Attain, TrackECN, BATS Trading and Direct Edge. A 
proliferation of dark pools and other ATSs operate profitably with 
fragmentary share of consolidated market volume.
    In determining the proposed changes to the fees for the NYSE MKT 
BBO and NYSE MKT Trades, the Exchange considered the competitiveness of 
the market for proprietary data and all of the implications of that 
competition. The Exchange believes that it has considered all relevant 
factors and has not considered irrelevant factors in order to establish 
fair, reasonable, and not unreasonably discriminatory fees and an 
equitable allocation of fees among all users. The existence of numerous 
alternatives to the Exchange's products, including proprietary data 
from other sources, ensures that the Exchange cannot set unreasonable 
fees, or fees that are unreasonably discriminatory, when vendors and 
subscribers can elect these alternatives or choose not to purchase a 
specific proprietary data product if the attendant fees are not 
justified by the returns that any particular vendor or data recipient 
would achieve through the purchase.

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) \23\ of the Act and subparagraph (f)(2) of Rule 
19b-4 \24\ thereunder, because it establishes a due, fee, or other 
charge imposed by the Exchange.
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    \23\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A).
    \24\ 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) \25\ of the Act to determine whether the proposed 
rule change should be approved or disapproved.
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    \25\ 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

     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-NYSEMKT-2016-101 on the subject line.

Paper Comments

     Send paper comments in triplicate to Brent J. Fields, 
Secretary, Securities and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street NE., 
Washington, DC 20549-1090.

All submissions should refer to File Number SR-NYSEMKT-2016-101. 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 the filing also will 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-NYSEMKT-2016-101 and should 
be submitted on or before December 12, 2016.

    For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets, 
pursuant to delegated authority.\26\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \26\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(12).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brent J. Fields,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2016-27894 Filed 11-18-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P



                                                    83308                      Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 224 / Monday, November 21, 2016 / Notices

                                                    necessary bandwidth for the Premium                     proposal, as modified by Amendment                        10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Copies of such
                                                    NYSE Data Products and responding to                    Nos. 1 and 2, should be approved or                       filing also will be available for
                                                    any production issues.’’ 89 The                         disapproved by December 12, 2016. Any                     inspection and copying at the principal
                                                    Commission does not believe the                         person who wishes to file a rebuttal to                   office of the Exchange. All comments
                                                    Exchange has clearly explained why the                  any other person’s submission must file                   received will be posted without change;
                                                    same rationale would not apply to the                   that rebuttal by December 27, 2016. In                    the Commission does not edit personal
                                                    Included Data Products. The Exchange                    light of the concerns raised by the                       identifying information from
                                                    has sought to justify this on the basis                 proposed rule change, as discussed                        submissions. You should submit only
                                                    that the Premium NYSE Data Products                     above, the Commission invites                             information that you wish to make
                                                    are similar to any other service offered                additional comment on the proposed                        available publicly. All submissions
                                                    by the Exchange such as connectivity to                 rule change, as modified by Amendment                     should refer to File No. SR–NYSE–
                                                    Third Party Systems and DTCC.90 The                     Nos. 1 and 2, as the Commission                           2016–45, and shoul‘d be submitted by
                                                    Commission however is concerned that                    continues its analysis of the proposed                    December 12, 2016. Rebuttal comments
                                                    these Premium NYSE Data Products are                    rule change’s consistency with Sections                   should be submitted by December 27,
                                                    similar to the Included Data Products                   6(b)(4), (5) and (8),94 or any other                      2016.
                                                    and therefore should not include                        provision of the Act, or the rules and                       For the Commission, by the Division
                                                    different fee structures as they are the                regulations thereunder. The                               of Trading and Markets, pursuant to
                                                    same offering by the Exchange within                    Commission asks that commenters                           delegated authority.95
                                                    the contemplated purpose of co-                         address the sufficiency and merit of the                  Brent J. Fields,
                                                    location. The Commission seeks                          Exchange’s statements in support of the
                                                                                                                                                                      Secretary.
                                                    comment on whether charging fees for                    proposed rule change, as modified by
                                                                                                                                                                      [FR Doc. 2016–27896 Filed 11–18–16; 8:45 am]
                                                    Included Data Products and Premium                      Amendment Nos. 1 and 2, in addition
                                                                                                            to any other comments they may wish                       BILLING CODE 8011–01–P
                                                    NYSE Data Products in a different
                                                    manner is consistent with Section                       to submit about the proposed rule
                                                    6(b)(4) of the Act.                                     change.
                                                                                                               Comments may be submitted by any                       SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
                                                    Procedure: Request for Written                          of the following methods:                                 COMMISSION
                                                    Comments                                                                                                          [Release No. 34–79314; File No. SR–
                                                                                                            Electronic Comments:
                                                      The Commission requests that                                                                                    NYSEMKT–2016–101]
                                                    interested persons provide written                        • Use the Commission’s Internet
                                                    submissions of their views, data and                    comment form (http://www.sec.gov/                         Self-Regulatory Organizations; NYSE
                                                    arguments with respect to the concerns                  rules/sro.shtml); or                                      MKT LLC; Notice of Filing and
                                                    identified above, as well as any other                    • Send an email to rule-comments@                       Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed
                                                    concerns they may have with the                         sec.gov. Please include File No. SR–                      Change Amending the Fees for NYSE
                                                    proposed rule change, as modified by                    NYSE–2016–45 on the subject line.                         MKT BBO and NYSE MKT Trades To
                                                    Amendment Nos. 1 and 2. In particular,                                                                            Lower the Enterprise Fee
                                                                                                            Paper Comments
                                                    the Commission invites the written                         • Send paper comments in triplicate                    November 15, 2016.
                                                    views of interested persons concerning                  to Brent J. Fields, Secretary, Securities                    Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) 1 of the
                                                    whether the proposal, as modified by                    and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street                     Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the
                                                    Amendment Nos. 1 and 2, is consistent                   NE., Washington, DC 20549–1090.                           ‘‘Act’’) 2 and Rule 19b–4 thereunder,3
                                                    with Sections 6(b)(4), (5), or (8) 91 or any                                                                      notice is hereby given that, on
                                                                                                            All submissions should refer to File No.
                                                    other provision of the Act, or the rules                                                                          November 1, 2016, NYSE MKT LLC (the
                                                                                                            SR–NYSE–2016–45. This file number
                                                    and regulations thereunder. Although                                                                              ‘‘Exchange’’ or ‘‘NYSE MKT’’) filed with
                                                                                                            should be included on the subject line
                                                    there does not appear to be any issue                                                                             the Securities and Exchange
                                                                                                            if email is used. To help the
                                                    relevant to approval or disapproval                                                                               Commission (the ‘‘Commission’’) the
                                                                                                            Commission process and review your
                                                    which would be facilitated by an oral                                                                             proposed rule change as described in
                                                                                                            comments more efficiently, please use
                                                    presentation of views, data, and                                                                                  Items I, II, and III below, which Items
                                                                                                            only one method. The Commission will
                                                    arguments, the Commission will                                                                                    have been prepared by the self-
                                                                                                            post all comments on the Commission’s
                                                    consider, pursuant to Rule 19b-4 under                                                                            regulatory organization. The
                                                                                                            Internet Web site (http://www.sec.gov/
                                                    the Act,92 any request for an                                                                                     Commission is publishing this notice to
                                                                                                            rules/sro.shtml). Copies of the
                                                    opportunity to make an oral                                                                                       solicit comments on the proposed rule
                                                                                                            submission, all subsequent
                                                    presentation.93                                                                                                   change from interested persons.
                                                      Interested persons are invited to                     amendments, all written statements
                                                    submit written data, views, and                         with respect to the proposed rule                         I. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
                                                    arguments regarding whether the                         change that are filed with the                            Statement of the Terms of Substance of
                                                                                                            Commission, and all written                               the Proposed Rule Change
                                                      89 See  Amendment No. 2, supra note 8.                communications relating to the                               The Exchange proposes to amend the
                                                      90 See  id.                                           proposed rule change between the                          fees for NYSE MKT BBO and NYSE
                                                       91 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(4), (b)(5) and (b)(8).           Commission and any person, other than                     MKT Trades to lower the Enterprise Fee.
                                                       92 17 CFR 240.19b–4.                                 those that may be withheld from the                       The proposed change is available on the
                                                                                                            public in accordance with the
asabaliauskas on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES




                                                       93 Section 19(b)(2) of the Act, as amended by the

                                                    Securities Act Amendments of 1975, Public Law
                                                                                                                                                                      Exchange’s Web site at www.nyse.com,
                                                                                                            provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552, will be                       at the principal office of the Exchange,
                                                    94–29 (June 4, 1975), grants to the Commission
                                                    flexibility to determine what type of proceeding—       available for Web site viewing and                        and at the Commission’s Public
                                                    either oral or notice and opportunity for written       printing in the Commission’s Public                       Reference Room.
                                                    comments—is appropriate for consideration of a          Reference Room, 100 F Street NE.,
                                                    particular proposal by a self-regulatory                Washington, DC 20549 on official                            95 17
                                                    organization. See Securities Act Amendments of                                                                            CFR 200.30–3(a)(57).
                                                    1975, Senate Comm. on Banking, Housing & Urban          business days between the hours of                          1 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).
                                                                                                                                                                        2 15 U.S.C. 78a.
                                                    Affairs, S. Rep. No. 75, 94th Cong., 1st Sess. 30
                                                    (1975).                                                   94 15   U.S.C. 78f(b)(4), (b)(5), and (b)(8).             3 17 CFR 240.19b–4.




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                                                                               Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 224 / Monday, November 21, 2016 / Notices                                                      83309

                                                    I. Self-Regulatory Organization’s                       an unlimited number of professional                      MKT Trades available or to offer any
                                                    Statement of the Purpose of, and                        and non-professional users for both                      specific pricing alternatives to any
                                                    Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule                  products. As is the case currently, a data               customers, nor is any firm required to
                                                    Change                                                  recipient that pays the enterprise fee                   purchase NYSE MKT BBO and NYSE
                                                       In its filing with the Commission, the               would not have to report the number of                   MKT Trades. Firms that do purchase
                                                    self-regulatory organization included                   such users on a monthly basis.7                          NYSE MKT BBO and NYSE MKT
                                                    statements concerning the purpose of,                   However, every six months, a data                        Trades do so for the primary goals of
                                                    and basis for, the proposed rule change                 recipient must provide the Exchange                      using them to increase revenues, reduce
                                                    and discussed any comments it received                  with a count of the total number of                      expenses, and in some instances
                                                    on the proposed rule change. The text                   natural person users of each product,                    compete directly with the Exchange
                                                    of those statements may be examined at                  including both professional and non-                     (including for order flow); those firms
                                                    the places specified in Item IV below.                  professional users.                                      are able to determine for themselves
                                                    The Exchange has prepared summaries,                                                                             whether NYSE MKT BBO and NYSE
                                                                                                            2. Statutory Basis
                                                                                                                                                                     MKT Trades or any other similar
                                                    set forth in sections A, B, and C below,                   The Exchange believes that the                        products are attractively priced or not.10
                                                    of the most significant parts of such                   proposed rule change is consistent with                     Firms that do not wish to purchase
                                                    statements.                                             the provisions of Section 6 of the Act,8                 NYSE MKT BBO and NYSE MKT
                                                    A. Self-Regulatory Organization’s                       in general, and Sections 6(b)(4) and                     Trades have a variety of alternative
                                                    Statement of the Purpose of, and the                    6(b)(5) of the Act,9 in particular, in that              market data products from which to
                                                    Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule                  it provides an equitable allocation of                   choose,11 or if NYSE MKT BBO and
                                                    Change                                                  reasonable fees among users and                          NYSE MKT Trades do not provide
                                                                                                            recipients of the data and is not                        sufficient value to firms as offered based
                                                    1. Purpose                                              designed to permit unfair                                on the uses those firms have or planned
                                                       The Exchange proposes to amend the                   discrimination among customers,                          to make of it, such firms may simply
                                                    fees for NYSE MKT BBO and NYSE                          issuers, and brokers.                                    choose to conduct their business
                                                    MKT Trades market data products,4 as                       The proposed fee change is also                       operations in ways that do not use
                                                    set forth on the NYSE MKT Equities                      equitable and not unfairly                               NYSE MKT BBO and NYSE MKT
                                                    Proprietary Market Data Fee Schedule                    discriminatory because it would apply                    Trades or use them at different levels or
                                                    (‘‘Fee Schedule’’). Specifically, the                   to all data recipients that choose to                    in different configurations. The
                                                    Exchange proposes to lower the                          subscribe to NYSE MKT BBO and NYSE                       Exchange notes that broker-dealers are
                                                    Enterprise Fee. The Exchange proposes                   MKT Trades.                                              not required to purchase proprietary
                                                    to make the fee change effective                           The proposed enterprise fees for                      market data to comply with their best
                                                    November 1, 2016.                                       NYSE MKT BBO and NYSE MKT                                execution obligations.12
                                                       The Exchange currently charges an                    Trades are reasonable because they                          The decision of the United States
                                                    enterprise fee of $15,000 per month for                 could result in a fee reduction for data                 Court of Appeals for the District of
                                                    an unlimited number of professional                     recipients with a large number of                        Columbia Circuit in NetCoalition v.
                                                    and non-professional users for each of                  professional and nonprofessional users,                  SEC, 615 F.3d 525 (D.C. Cir. 2010),
                                                    NYSE MKT BBO and NYSE MKT                               as described in the example above. If a                  upheld reliance by the Securities and
                                                    Trades.5 A single Enterprise Fee applies                data recipient has a smaller number of                   Exchange Commission (‘‘Commission’’)
                                                    for clients receiving both NYSE MKT                     professional users of NYSE MKT BBO                       upon the existence of competitive
                                                    BBO and NYSE MKT Trades.6 The                           and/or NYSE MKT Trades, then it may                      market mechanisms to set reasonable
                                                    Exchange proposes to lower the                          continue to use the per user fee                         and equitably allocated fees for
                                                    enterprise fee to $3,000 per month.                     structure. By reducing prices for data                   proprietary market data:
                                                       As an example, under the current fee                 recipient with a large number of
                                                                                                            professional and non-professional users,                    In fact, the legislative history indicates that
                                                    structure for per user fees, if a firm had                                                                       the Congress intended that the market system
                                                    10,000 professional users who each                      the Exchange believes that more data                     ‘evolve through the interplay of competitive
                                                    received NYSE MKT Trades at $1 per                      recipients may choose to offer NYSE                      forces as unnecessary regulatory restrictions
                                                    month and NYSE MKT BBO at $1 per                        MKT BBO and NYSE MKT Trades,                             are removed’ and that the SEC wield its
                                                    month, without the Enterprise Fee, the                  thereby expanding the distribution of                    regulatory power ‘in those situations where
                                                    firm would be subject to $20,000 per                    this market data for the benefit of                      competition may not be sufficient,’ such as
                                                                                                            investors. The Exchange also believes                    in the creation of a ‘consolidated
                                                    month in professional user fees. Under                                                                           transactional reporting system.’
                                                    the current pricing structure, the charge               that offering an enterprise fee expands
                                                    would be capped at $15,000 and                          the range of options for offering NYSE                   Id. at 535 (quoting H.R. Rep. No. 94–229
                                                    effective November 1, 2016 it would be                  MKT BBO and NYSE MKT Trades and                          at 92 (1975), as reprinted in 1975
                                                    capped at $3,000.                                       allows data recipients greater choice in                 U.S.C.C.A.N. 323). The court agreed
                                                       Under the proposed enterprise fee, the               selecting the most appropriate level of                  with the Commission’s conclusion that
                                                    firm would pay a flat fee of $3,000 for                 data and fees for the professional and                   ‘‘Congress intended that ‘competitive
                                                                                                            non-professional users they are                          forces should dictate the services and
                                                       4 See Securities Exchange Act Release Nos. 61936     servicing.
                                                    (April 16, 2010), 74 [sic] FR 21088 (April 22, 2010)       The Exchange notes that NYSE MKT                        10 See, e.g., Proposing Release on Regulation of

                                                    (SR–NYSEAmex–2010–35) (notice—NYSE MKT                  BBO and NYSE MKT Trades are entirely                     NMS Stock Alternative Trading Systems, Securities
asabaliauskas on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES




                                                    BBO and NYSE MKT Trades) and 62187 (May 27,             optional. The Exchange is not required                   Exchange Act Release No. 76474 (Nov. 18, 2015)
                                                    2010), 75 FR 31500 (June 3, 2010) (SR–NYSEAmex–                                                                  (File No. S7–23–15). See also, ‘‘Brokers Warned Not
                                                    2010–35) (approval order—NYSE MKT BBO and               to make NYSE MKT BBO and NYSE                            to Steer Clients’ Stock Trades Into Slow Lane,’’
                                                    NYSE MKT Trades).                                                                                                Bloomberg Business, December 14, 2015 (Sigma X
                                                       5 See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 76906         7 Professional users currently are subject to a per   dark pool to use direct exchange feeds as the
                                                    (January 14, 2016), 81 FR 3500 (January 21, 2016)       display device count. See Securities [sic] Act           primary source of price data).
                                                    (SR–NYSEMKT–2016–04).                                   Release No. 73986 (January 5, 2015), 80 FR 1444            11 See NASDAQ Rule 7047 (Nasdaq Basic) and
                                                       6 See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 70212      (January 9, 2015) (SR–NYSEMKT–2014–113).                 BATS [sic] Rule 11.22 (BATS TOP and Last Sale).
                                                                                                               8 15 U.S.C. 78f(b).
                                                    (August 15, 2013), 78 FR 51775 (August 21, 2013)                                                                   12 See FINRA Regulatory Notice 15–46, ‘‘Best

                                                    (SR–NYSEMKT–2013–69).                                      9 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(4), (5).                           Execution,’’ November 2015.



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                                                    83310                      Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 224 / Monday, November 21, 2016 / Notices

                                                    practices that constitute the U.S.                      data, respectively.15 The Exchange is                   transaction reports provide pricing
                                                    national market system for trading                      proposing enterprise fees that are less                 discipline for the inputs of proprietary
                                                    equity securities.’ ’’ 13                               than the fees currently charged by BYX.                 data products and therefore constrain
                                                       As explained below in the Exchange’s                   For these reasons, the Exchange                       markets from overpricing proprietary
                                                    Statement on Burden on Competition,                     believes that the proposed fees are                     market data. Broker-dealers send their
                                                    the Exchange believes that there is                     reasonable, equitable, and not unfairly                 order flow and transaction reports to
                                                    substantial evidence of competition in                  discriminatory.                                         multiple venues, rather than providing
                                                    the marketplace for proprietary market                                                                          them all to a single venue, which in turn
                                                                                                            B. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
                                                    data and that the Commission can rely                                                                           reinforces this competitive constraint.
                                                                                                            Statement on Burden on Competition
                                                    upon such evidence in concluding that                                                                           As a 2010 Commission Concept Release
                                                    the fees established in this filing are the                The Exchange does not believe that                   noted, the ‘‘current market structure can
                                                    product of competition and therefore                    the proposed rule change will impose                    be described as dispersed and complex’’
                                                    satisfy the relevant statutory standards.               any burden on competition that is not                   with ‘‘trading volume . . . dispersed
                                                    In addition, the existence of alternatives              necessary or appropriate in furtherance                 among many highly automated trading
                                                    to these data products, such as                         of the purposes of the Act. An                          centers that compete for order flow in
                                                    consolidated data and proprietary data                  exchange’s ability to price its                         the same stocks’’ and ‘‘trading centers
                                                    from other sources, as described below,                 proprietary market data feed products is                offer[ing] a wide range of services that
                                                    further ensures that the Exchange                       constrained by actual competition for                   are designed to attract different types of
                                                    cannot set unreasonable fees, or fees                   the sale of proprietary market data                     market participants with varying trading
                                                    that are unreasonably discriminatory,                   products, the joint product nature of                   needs.’’ 17 More recently, SEC Chair
                                                    when vendors and subscribers can                        exchange platforms, and the existence of                Mary Jo White has noted that
                                                    select such alternatives.                               alternatives to the Exchange’s                          competition for order flow in exchange-
                                                       As the NetCoalition decision noted,                  proprietary data.                                       listed equities is ‘‘intense’’ and divided
                                                    the Commission is not required to                       The Existence of Actual Competition                     among many trading venues, including
                                                    undertake a cost-of-service or                                                                                  exchanges, more than 40 alternative
                                                    ratemaking approach. The Exchange                          The market for proprietary data                      trading systems, and more than 250
                                                    believes that, even if it were possible as              products is currently competitive and                   broker-dealers.18
                                                    a matter of economic theory, cost-based                 inherently contestable because there is                    If an exchange succeeds in competing
                                                    pricing for proprietary market data                     fierce competition for the inputs                       for quotations, order flow, and trade
                                                    would be so complicated that it could                   necessary for the creation of proprietary               executions, then it earns trading
                                                    not be done practically or offer any                    data and strict pricing discipline for the              revenues and increases the value of its
                                                    significant benefits.14                                 proprietary products themselves.                        proprietary market data products
                                                      In addition, the Exchange believes                    Numerous exchanges compete with one                     because they will contain greater quote
                                                    that the proposed fees are reasonable                   another for listings and order flow and                 and trade information. Conversely, if an
                                                    when compared to fees for comparable                    sales of market data itself, providing                  exchange is less successful in attracting
                                                    products offered by at least one other                  ample opportunities for entrepreneurs                   quotes, order flow, and trade
                                                    exchange. For example, Bats BYX                         who wish to compete in any or all of                    executions, then its market data
                                                    Exchange (‘‘BYX’’) charges an enterprise                those areas, including producing and                    products may be less desirable to
                                                    fee of $10,000 per month for each of                    distributing their own market data.                     customers in light of the diminished
                                                    BYX Top and BYX Last Sale, which                        Proprietary data products are produced                  content and data products offered by
                                                    includes best bid and offer and last sale               and distributed by each individual                      competing venues may become more
                                                                                                            exchange, as well as other entities, in a               attractive. Thus, competition for
                                                      13 NetCoalition,  615 F.3d at 535.                    vigorously competitive market. Indeed,                  quotations, order flow, and trade
                                                      14 The  Exchange believes that cost-based pricing     the U.S. Department of Justice (‘‘DOJ’’)                executions puts significant pressure on
                                                    would be impractical because it would create            (the primary antitrust regulator) has                   an exchange to maintain both execution
                                                    enormous administrative burdens for all parties and     expressly acknowledged the aggressive
                                                    the Commission to cost-regulate a large number of                                                               and data fees at reasonable levels.
                                                                                                            actual competition among exchanges,                        In addition, in the case of products
                                                    participants and standardize and analyze
                                                    extraordinary amounts of information, accounts,         including for the sale of proprietary                   that are also redistributed through
                                                    and reports. In addition, and as described below, it    market data. In 2011, the DOJ stated that               market data vendors, such as Bloomberg
                                                    is impossible to regulate market data prices in         exchanges ‘‘compete head to head to                     and Thompson Reuters, the vendors
                                                    isolation from prices charged by markets for other      offer real-time equity data products.
                                                    services that are joint products. Cost-based rate
                                                    regulation would also lead to litigation and may        These data products include the best bid                   17 Concept Release on Equity Market Structure,

                                                    distort incentives, including those to minimize         and offer of every exchange and                         Securities Exchange Act Release No. 61358 (Jan. 14,
                                                    costs and to innovate, leading to further waste.        information on each equity trade,                       2010), 75 FR 3594 (Jan. 21, 2010) (File No. S7–02–
                                                    Under cost-based pricing, the Commission would                                                                  10). This Concept Release included data from the
                                                                                                            including the last sale.’’ 16                           third quarter of 2009 showing that no market center
                                                    be burdened with determining a fair rate of return,
                                                    and the industry could experience frequent rate
                                                                                                               Moreover, competitive markets for                    traded more than 20% of the volume of listed
                                                    increases based on escalating expense levels. Even      listings, order flow, executions, and                   stocks, further evidencing the dispersal of and
                                                    in industries historically subject to utility                                                                   competition for trading activity. Id. at 3598. Data
                                                    regulation, cost-based ratemaking has been                 15 See Market Data Fees at https://                  available on ArcaVision show that from June 30,
                                                    discredited. As such, the Exchange believes that        www.batstrading.com/support/fee_schedule/byx/.          2013 to June 30, 2014, no exchange traded more
                                                    cost-based ratemaking would be inappropriate for           16 Press Release, U.S. Department of Justice,        than 12% of the volume of listed stocks by either
                                                                                                                                                                    trade or dollar volume, further evidencing the
asabaliauskas on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES




                                                    proprietary market data and inconsistent with           Assistant Attorney General Christine Varney Holds
                                                    Congress’s direction that the Commission use its        Conference Call Regarding NASDAQ OMX Group              continued dispersal of and fierce competition for
                                                    authority to foster the development of the national     Inc. and IntercontinentalExchange Inc. Abandoning       trading activity. See https://www.arcavision.com/
                                                    market system, and that market forces will continue     Their Bid for NYSE Euronext (May 16, 2011),             Arcavision/arcalogin.jsp.
                                                    to provide appropriate pricing discipline. See                                                                     18 Mary Jo White, Enhancing Our Equity Market
                                                                                                            available at http://www.justice.gov/iso/opa/atr/
                                                    Appendix C to NYSE’s comments to the                    speeches/2011/at-speech-110516.html; see also           Structure, Sandler O’Neill & Partners, L.P. Global
                                                    Commission’s 2000 Concept Release on the                Complaint in U.S. v. Deutsche Borse AG and NYSE         Exchange and Brokerage Conference (June 5, 2014)
                                                    Regulation of Market Information Fees and               Euronext, Case No. 11–cv–2280 (D.C. Dist.) ¶ 24         (available on the Commission Web site), citing
                                                    Revenues, which can be found on the Commission’s        (‘‘NYSE and Direct Edge compete head-to-head . . .      Tuttle, Laura, 2014, ‘‘OTC Trading: Description of
                                                    Web site at http://www.sec.gov/rules/concept/           in the provision of real-time proprietary equity data   Non-ATS OTC Trading in National Market System
                                                    s72899/buck1.htm.                                       products.’’).                                           Stocks,’’ at 7–8.



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                                                                               Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 224 / Monday, November 21, 2016 / Notices                                                          83311

                                                    themselves provide additional price                     broker-dealer may choose instead not to                    selling data about market activity. The
                                                    discipline for proprietary data products                purchase the product and trade away                        total return that an exchange earns
                                                    because they control the primary means                  from that exchange.                                        reflects the revenues it receives from the
                                                    of access to certain end users. These                      Other market participants have noted                    joint products and the total costs of the
                                                    vendors impose price discipline based                   that proprietary market data and trade                     joint products.
                                                    upon their business models. For                         executions are joint products of a joint                      As noted above, the level of
                                                    example, vendors that assess a                          platform and have common costs.19 The                      competition and contestability in the
                                                    surcharge on data they sell are able to                 Exchange agrees with and adopts those                      market is evident in the numerous
                                                    refuse to offer proprietary products that               discussions and the arguments therein.                     alternative venues that compete for
                                                    their end users do not or will not                      The Exchange also notes that the                           order flow, including 13 equities self-
                                                    purchase in sufficient numbers. Vendors                 economics literature confirms that there                   regulatory organization (‘‘SRO’’)
                                                    will not elect to make available NYSE                   is no way to allocate common costs                         markets, as well as various forms of
                                                    MKT BBO or NYSE MKT Trades unless                       between joint products that would shed                     alternative trading systems (‘‘ATSs’’),
                                                    their customers request it, and                         any light on competitive or efficient                      including dark pools and electronic
                                                    customers will not elect to pay the                     pricing.20                                                 communication networks (‘‘ECNs’’), and
                                                    proposed fees unless NYSE MKT BBO                          Analyzing the cost of market data                       internalizing broker-dealers. SRO
                                                    and NYSE MKT Trades can provide                         product production and distribution in                     markets compete to attract order flow
                                                    value by sufficiently increasing                        isolation from the cost of all of the                      and produce transaction reports via
                                                    revenues or reducing costs in the                       inputs supporting the creation of market                   trade executions, and two FINRA-
                                                    customer’s business in a manner that                    data and market data products will                         regulated Trade Reporting Facilities
                                                    will offset the fees. All of these factors              inevitably underestimate the cost of the                   compete to attract transaction reports
                                                    operate as constraints on pricing                       data and data products because it is                       from the non-SRO venues.
                                                    proprietary data products.                              impossible to obtain the data inputs to                       Competition among trading platforms
                                                                                                            create market data products without a                      can be expected to constrain the
                                                    Joint Product Nature of Exchange                        fast, technologically robust, and well-                    aggregate return that each platform
                                                    Platform                                                regulated execution system, and system                     earns from the sale of its joint products,
                                                       Transaction execution and proprietary                and regulatory costs affect the price of                   but different trading platforms may
                                                    data products are complementary in that                 both obtaining the market data itself and                  choose from a range of possible, and
                                                    market data is both an input and a                      creating and distributing market data                      equally reasonable, pricing strategies as
                                                    byproduct of the execution service. In                  products. It would be equally                              the means of recovering total costs. For
                                                    fact, proprietary market data and trade                 misleading, however, to attribute all of                   example, some platforms may choose to
                                                    executions are a paradigmatic example                   an exchange’s costs to the market data                     pay rebates to attract orders, charge
                                                    of joint products with joint costs. The                 portion of an exchange’s joint products.                   relatively low prices for market data
                                                    decision of whether and on which                        Rather, all of an exchange’s costs are                     products (or provide market data
                                                    platform to post an order will depend                   incurred for the unified purposes of                       products free of charge), and charge
                                                    on the attributes of the platforms where                attracting order flow, executing and/or                    relatively high prices for accessing
                                                    the order can be posted, including the                  routing orders, and generating and                         posted liquidity. Other platforms may
                                                    execution fees, data availability and                                                                              choose a strategy of paying lower
                                                    quality, and price and distribution of                     19 See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 72153
                                                                                                                                                                       rebates (or no rebates) to attract orders,
                                                    data products. Without a platform to                    (May 12, 2014), 79 FR 28575, 28578 n.15 [sic] (May
                                                                                                                                                                       setting relatively high prices for market
                                                    post quotations, receive orders, and                    16, 2014) (SR–NASDAQ–2014–045) (‘‘[A]ll of the
                                                                                                            exchange’s costs are incurred for the unified              data products, and setting relatively low
                                                    execute trades, exchange data products                  purposes of attracting order flow, executing and/or        prices for accessing posted liquidity. For
                                                    would not exist.                                        routing orders, and generating and selling data            example, Bats Global Markets (‘‘Bats’’)
                                                       The costs of producing market data                   about market activity. The total return that an
                                                                                                                                                                       and Direct Edge, which previously
                                                    include not only the costs of the data                  exchange earns reflects the revenues it receives
                                                                                                            from the joint products and the total costs of the         operated as ATSs and obtained
                                                    distribution infrastructure, but also the               joint products.’’). See also Securities Exchange Act       exchange status in 2008 and 2010,
                                                    costs of designing, maintaining, and                    Release No. 62907 (Sept. 14, 2010), 75 FR 57314,           respectively, provided certain market
                                                    operating the exchange’s platform for                   57317 (Sept. 20, 2010) (SR–NASDAQ–2010–110),
                                                                                                                                                                       data at no charge on their Web sites in
                                                    posting quotes, accepting orders, and                   and Securities Exchange Act Release No. 62908
                                                                                                            (Sept. 14, 2010), 75 FR 57321, 57324 (Sept. 20,            order to attract more order flow, and
                                                    executing transactions and the cost of                  2010) (SR–NASDAQ–2010–111).                                used revenue rebates from resulting
                                                    regulating the exchange to ensure its fair                 20 See generally Mark Hirschey, Fundamentals of
                                                                                                                                                                       additional executions to maintain low
                                                    operation and maintain investor                         Managerial Economics, at 600 (2009) (‘‘It is               execution charges for their users.21 In
                                                    confidence. The total return that a                     important to note, however, that although it is
                                                                                                                                                                       this environment, there is no economic
                                                    trading platform earns reflects the                     possible to determine the separate marginal costs of
                                                                                                            goods produced in variable proportions, it is              basis for regulating maximum prices for
                                                    revenues it receives from both products                 impossible to determine their individual average           one of the joint products in an industry
                                                    and the joint costs it incurs.                          costs. This is because common costs are expenses           in which suppliers face competitive
                                                       Moreover, an exchange’s broker-                      necessary for manufacture of a joint product.
                                                                                                            Common costs of production—raw material and                constraints with regard to the joint
                                                    dealer customers generally view the
                                                                                                            equipment costs, management expenses, and other            offering.
                                                    costs of transaction executions and                     overhead—cannot be allocated to each individual
                                                    market data as a unified cost of doing                  by-product on any economically sound basis. . . .          Existence of Alternatives
                                                    business with the exchange. A broker-
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                                                                                                            Any allocation of common costs is wrong and                  The large number of SROs, ATSs, and
                                                    dealer will only choose to direct orders                arbitrary.’’). This is not new economic theory. See,
                                                                                                            e.g., F.W. Taussig, ‘‘A Contribution to the Theory         internalizing broker-dealers that
                                                    to an exchange if the revenue from the                  of Railway Rates,’’ Quarterly Journal of Economics
                                                    transaction exceeds its cost, including                 V(4) 438, 465 (July 1891) (‘‘Yet, surely, the division       21 This is simply a securities market-specific

                                                    the cost of any market data that the                    is purely arbitrary. These items of cost, in fact, are     example of the well-established principle that in
                                                    broker-dealer chooses to buy in support                 jointly incurred for both sorts of traffic; and I cannot   certain circumstances more sales at lower margins
                                                                                                            share the hope entertained by the statistician of the      can be more profitable than fewer sales at higher
                                                    of its order routing and trading                        Commission, Professor Henry C. Adams, that we              margins; this example is additional evidence that
                                                    decisions. If the costs of the transaction              shall ever reach a mode of apportionment that will         market data is an inherent part of a market’s joint
                                                    are not offset by its value, then the                   lead to trustworthy results.’’).                           platform.



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                                                    83312                        Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 224 / Monday, November 21, 2016 / Notices

                                                    currently produce proprietary data or                     considered the competitiveness of the                 Electronic Comments
                                                    are currently capable of producing it                     market for proprietary data and all of
                                                    provides further pricing discipline for                   the implications of that competition.                    • Use the Commission’s Internet
                                                    proprietary data products. Each SRO,                      The Exchange believes that it has                     comment form (http://www.sec.gov/
                                                    ATS, and broker-dealer is currently                       considered all relevant factors and has               rules/sro.shtml); or
                                                    permitted to produce and sell                             not considered irrelevant factors in                     • Send an email to rule-comments@
                                                    proprietary data products, and many                       order to establish fair, reasonable, and              sec.gov. Please include File Number SR–
                                                    currently do, including but not limited                   not unreasonably discriminatory fees                  NYSEMKT–2016–101 on the subject
                                                    to the Exchange, New York Stock                           and an equitable allocation of fees                   line.
                                                    Exchange LLC, NYSE Arca, Inc. (‘‘NYSE                     among all users. The existence of
                                                    Arca’’), NASDAQ, Bats [sic], and Direct                   numerous alternatives to the Exchange’s               Paper Comments
                                                    Edge.                                                     products, including proprietary data
                                                       The fact that proprietary data from                                                                            • Send paper comments in triplicate
                                                                                                              from other sources, ensures that the
                                                    ATSs, internalizing broker-dealers, and                   Exchange cannot set unreasonable fees,                to Brent J. Fields, Secretary, Securities
                                                    vendors can bypass SROs is significant                    or fees that are unreasonably                         and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street
                                                    in two respects. First, non-SROs can                      discriminatory, when vendors and                      NE., Washington, DC 20549–1090.
                                                    compete directly with SROs for the                        subscribers can elect these alternatives              All submissions should refer to File
                                                    production and sale of proprietary data                   or choose not to purchase a specific                  Number SR–NYSEMKT–2016–101. This
                                                    products. By way of example, Bats [sic]                   proprietary data product if the attendant             file number should be included on the
                                                    and NYSE Arca both published                              fees are not justified by the returns that
                                                    proprietary data on the Internet before                                                                         subject line if email is used. To help the
                                                                                                              any particular vendor or data recipient               Commission process and review your
                                                    registering as exchanges. Second,                         would achieve through the purchase.
                                                    because a single order or transaction                                                                           comments more efficiently, please use
                                                    report can appear in an SRO proprietary                   C. Self-Regulatory Organization’s                     only one method. The Commission will
                                                    product, a non-SRO proprietary                            Statement on Comments on the                          post all comments on the Commission’s
                                                    product, or both, the amount of data                      Proposed Rule Change Received From                    Internet Web site (http://www.sec.gov/
                                                    available via proprietary products is                     Members, Participants, or Others                      rules/sro.shtml). Copies of the
                                                    greater in size than the actual number of                   No written comments were solicited                  submission, all subsequent
                                                    orders and transaction reports that exist                 or received with respect to the proposed              amendments, all written statements
                                                    in the marketplace. Indeed, in the case                   rule change.                                          with respect to the proposed rule
                                                    of NYSE MKT BBO and NYSE MKT                                                                                    change that are filed with the
                                                    Trades, the data provided through these                   III. Date of Effectiveness of the                     Commission, and all written
                                                    products appears both in (i) real-time                    Proposed Rule Change and Timing for
                                                                                                                                                                    communications relating to the
                                                    core data products offered by the                         Commission Action
                                                                                                                                                                    proposed rule change between the
                                                    Securities Information Processors (SIPs)                     The foregoing rule change is effective             Commission and any person, other than
                                                    for a fee, and (ii) free SIP data products                upon filing pursuant to Section                       those that may be withheld from the
                                                    with a 15-minute time delay, and finds                    19(b)(3)(A) 23 of the Act and                         public in accordance with the
                                                    a close substitute in similar products of                 subparagraph (f)(2) of Rule 19b–4 24                  provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552, will be
                                                    competing venues.22 Because market                        thereunder, because it establishes a due,             available for Web site viewing and
                                                    data users can find suitable substitutes                  fee, or other charge imposed by the                   printing in the Commission’s Public
                                                    for most proprietary market data                          Exchange.
                                                    products, a market that overprices its                                                                          Reference Room, 100 F Street NE.,
                                                                                                                 At any time within 60 days of the
                                                    market data products stands a high risk                                                                         Washington, DC 20549 on official
                                                                                                              filing of such proposed rule change, the
                                                    that users may substitute another source                  Commission summarily may                              business days between the hours of
                                                    of market data information for its own.                   temporarily suspend such rule change if               10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Copies of the
                                                       Those competitive pressures imposed                    it appears to the Commission that such                filing also will be available for
                                                    by available alternatives are evident in                  action is necessary or appropriate in the             inspection and copying at the principal
                                                    the Exchange’s proposed pricing.                          public interest, for the protection of                office of the Exchange. All comments
                                                       In addition to the competition and                     investors, or otherwise in furtherance of             received will be posted without change;
                                                    price discipline described above, the                     the purposes of the Act. If the                       the Commission does not edit personal
                                                    market for proprietary data products is                   Commission takes such action, the                     identifying information from
                                                    also highly contestable because market                    Commission shall institute proceedings                submissions. You should submit only
                                                    entry is rapid and inexpensive. The                       under Section 19(b)(2)(B) 25 of the Act to            information that you wish to make
                                                    history of electronic trading is replete                  determine whether the proposed rule                   available publicly. All submissions
                                                    with examples of entrants that swiftly                    change should be approved or                          should refer to File Number SR–
                                                    grew into some of the largest electronic                  disapproved.                                          NYSEMKT–2016–101 and should be
                                                    trading platforms and proprietary data                                                                          submitted on or before December 12,
                                                    producers: Archipelago, Bloomberg                         IV. Solicitation of Comments
                                                                                                                                                                    2016.
                                                    Tradebook, Island, RediBook, Attain,                        Interested persons are invited to
                                                    TrackECN, BATS Trading and Direct                         submit written data, views, and                         For the Commission, by the Division of
                                                                                                                                                                    Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated
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                                                    Edge. A proliferation of dark pools and                   arguments concerning the foregoing,
                                                    other ATSs operate profitably with                        including whether the proposed rule                   authority.26
                                                    fragmentary share of consolidated                         change is consistent with the Act.                    Brent J. Fields,
                                                    market volume.                                            Comments may be submitted by any of                   Secretary.
                                                       In determining the proposed changes                    the following methods:                                [FR Doc. 2016–27894 Filed 11–18–16; 8:45 am]
                                                    to the fees for the NYSE MKT BBO and
                                                                                                                                                                    BILLING CODE 8011–01–P
                                                    NYSE MKT Trades, the Exchange                               23 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A).
                                                                                                                24 17 CFR 240.19b–4(f)(2).
                                                      22 See   supra note 15.                                   25 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(2)(B).                            26 17   CFR 200.30–3(a)(12).



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Document Created: 2018-02-14 08:34:18
Document Modified: 2018-02-14 08:34:18
CategoryRegulatory Information
CollectionFederal Register
sudoc ClassAE 2.7:
GS 4.107:
AE 2.106:
PublisherOffice of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration
SectionNotices
FR Citation81 FR 83308 

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