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 June 10, 2026, the Investors Exchange LLC (“IEX” or the “Exchange”) 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.

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

Pursuant to the provisions of Section 19(b)(1) under the Act,^[4] and Rule 19b-4 thereunder,^[5] the Exchange is filing with the Commission a proposed rule change to amend Rule 22.100 to allow an Options Market Maker to submit a quote with the time-in-force (“TIF”) instruction of Immediate-or-Cancel (“IOC”) as a bulk message on IEX Options. The Exchange has designated this rule change as “non-controversial” under Section 19(b)(3)(A) of the Act ^[6] and provided the Commission with the notice required by Rule 19b-4(f)(6) thereunder.^[7]

The text of the proposed rule change is available at the Exchange's website at https://www.iexexchange.io/​resources/​regulation/​rule-filings and at the principal office of the Exchange.

II. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Purpose of, and the 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 these statements may be examined at the places specified in Item IV below. The self-regulatory organization has prepared summaries, set forth in Sections A, B, and C below, of the most significant aspects of such statements.

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

1. Purpose

The Exchange proposes to amend Rule 22.100 to allow Options Market Makers ^[8] to submit a quote with the TIF instruction of IOC as a bulk message.^[9] A TIF of IOC instructs that an order or quote message is to be executed in whole or in part as soon as such order is received.^[10] Any IOC order or quote (or portion thereof) that is not immediately executed on the Exchange will be canceled and does not post to the IEX Options Book.^[11]

Options Market Makers may submit quotes as well as orders. Quotes may only be submitted by Market Makers and only as bulk messages. A bulk message is a single electronic message a Market Maker submits to the Exchange through a logical port in which the Market Maker may enter, modify, or cancel up to an Exchange-specified number of bids and offers.^[12] Under ( printed page 38052) current IEX Rules,^[13] Market Makers may only submit quotes ^[14] as bulk messages with a TIF of Day.^[15] As proposed, a Market Maker would have the option to submit a single quote with a TIF of IOC in a bulk message.^[16]

Based on informal feedback from options market participants, IEX believes that it would facilitate Market Makers' risk management and satisfaction of applicable IEX quoting obligations ^[17] to also permit Market Makers to enter a quote as a bulk message with a TIF of IOC.^[18] The Exchange believes that allowing Market Makers to designate IOC quotes as bulk messages will facilitate their ability to manage their interactions with resting liquidity through the same bulk message functionality that they will use to satisfy their quoting obligations and provide liquidity. Several other options exchanges offer market makers the ability to select a TIF of IOC for quotes in bulk messages.^[19]

In certain circumstances, a Market Maker may wish to take liquidity resting on the IEX Options Book, for example, to avoid locking or crossing an order on the Book, by removing interest on the Book in order to subsequently post updated quotes at potentially tighter spreads, or to reduce their inventory risk. In such circumstances, current IEX Rules would require a Market Maker to (i) enter a bulk message quote at a price that is executable against the resting interest, and (ii) in order to avoid any unexecuted portion thereof remaining displayed on the Book, immediately follow with another bulk message quote to cancel the original quote. In contrast, as proposed, the Market Maker would only need to enter one IOC quote. Thus, enabling Market Makers to enter IOC quotes as bulk messages would provide enhanced efficiency for the Market Maker by enabling it to accomplish the same objective with fewer steps and would result in less message traffic for the System to process.

The Exchange, however, proposes to limit Market Makers' use of IOC quotes to execute against resting non-Market Maker interest.^[20] The Exchange believes it is appropriate to only permit this functionality for the limited purpose described above in view of a Market Maker's core obligation to provide liquidity to the market.^[21]

Accordingly, the Exchange proposes to amend IEX rules as follows:

• Add “subject to the restrictions set forth in paragraph (l) below with respect to bulk messages” to Rule 22.100(g);
• Amend the definition of “IOC” in Rule 22.100(g)(1) to state that Market Makers may designate bulk messages as IOC;
• Amend the definition of “bulk message” in Rule 22.100(l)(1) to state that Market Makers may only submit a single quote with a Time-in-Force of IOC, and that an IOC quote will not execute against resting Market Maker interest;
• Amend Rule 22.100(l)(1) to state that bulk messages must have a Time-in-Force of Day or IOC;
• Amend Rule 22.100(l)(3) to state that any bulk messages with a Time-in-Force of Day will be implicitly designated as Post Only;
• Amend Rule 22.100(l)(4) to make clear that the System cancels, rejects, or reprices a bulk message that does not have a Time-in-Force of IOC and has a bid (offer) with a price that locks or crosses the Exchange best offer (bid) or ABO (ABB); and
• Change “enter” to “rest” in the second sentence of Rule 22.150(a) (Entry of Orders) to make clear that the limit set forth in the Rule (i.e., that Market Makers may only rest one bid and one offer for a series per MPID using bulk messages) which would not apply to IOC quotes, which by definition do not rest on the book.

2. Statutory Basis

The Exchange believes that the proposed rule change is consistent with Section 6(b) of the Act ^[22] in general, and furthers the objectives of Section 6(b)(5) of the Act ^[23] in particular, in that it is designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices, to promote just and equitable principles of trade, to foster cooperation and coordination with persons engaged in regulating, clearing, settling, processing information with respect to, and facilitating transactions in, securities, to remove impediments to and perfect the mechanism of a free and open market and a national market system, and, in general, to protect investors and the public interest.

The Exchange believes that the proposed rule change allowing Market Makers to submit quotes as bulk messages with a TIF of IOC will remove impediments to and perfect the mechanism of a free and open market and national market system and benefit investors by permitting Market Makers to more effectively and efficiently manage their interactions with resting liquidity through the same bulk message functionality that they use to manage their market making obligations, as described in the Purpose section. The proposed rule change is also designed to reduce unnecessary message traffic and thereby benefit market participants generally consistent with the protection of investors and the public interest. ( printed page 38053)

The Exchange also believes that the proposed rule change is consistent with the Act because it is designed to provide added flexibility for Market Makers in removing interest on the Book to avoid locking or crossing an order on the Book and thereby could potentially result in Market Makers updating their quotes at potentially tighter spreads. This, in turn, would provide all market participants with additional execution opportunities on the Exchange at potentially improved prices and thereby attract additional order flow to the Exchange, for the benefit of all Members of the Exchange.

In addition, the Exchange does not believe that the proposed rule change would permit unfair discrimination. As set forth in the Purpose section above, Market Makers have an essential role in providing liquidity on the Exchange and are subject to quoting obligations that other market participants do not have, including competing with other Market Makers in all series of options classes to which the Market Maker is appointed; making markets in all series of options classes to which the Market Maker is appointed; and continuously updating its quotations throughout the trading day. Bulk message functionality supports Market Makers' ability to satisfy their market making obligations. The Exchange believes that adding the option of IOC quotes to the existing bulk message function does not unfairly discriminate against non-Market Makers because they do not use the bulk message functionality and have no affirmative quoting obligations.

Finally, as discussed in the Purpose section above, the proposed rule change is based on existing rules of other options exchanges.^[24] Accordingly, the Exchange does not believe that the proposed rule change raises any new or novel issues that have not already been considered by the Commission.

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.

The Exchange does not believe that the proposed rule change will impose any burden on intermarket competition that is not necessary or appropriate in furtherance of the purposes of the Act. The proposed rule change is designed to allow a Market Maker to more efficiently manage its ability to execute against specific interest on the Book with its ongoing market making obligations by providing the option of designating an IOC quote as a bulk message. While the Exchange expects the proposed rule change will result in lower message traffic for the System to process, the Exchange does not believe this amounts to a burden on intermarket competition that would frustrate the purposes of the Act. Competing exchanges have and can continue to adopt comparable IOC bulk message functionality, subject to the SEC rule filing process, as discussed in the Purpose section.

The Exchange also does not believe that the proposed rule change will impose any burden on intramarket competition that is not necessary or appropriate in furtherance of the purposes of the Act. IOC quote bulk messages would be voluntary and available to any Market Maker wishing to designate their quotes as such. Market Makers who wish to execute against resting interest on the Book using multiple, sequential bulk messages designated as Day—as the current Rules provide—may continue to do so. While the use of bulk messages is limited to Market Makers, for the reasons set forth in the Statutory Basis section above, the Exchange believes this is appropriate, given the unique obligations and role of Market Makers in providing liquidity. In addition, non-Market Maker Members will continue to be able to use the IOC instruction for their own orders, subject to all applicable IEX Rules.

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

Written comments were neither solicited nor received.

III. Date of Effectiveness of the Proposed Rule Change and Timing for Commission Action

The Exchange has designated this rule filing as non-controversial under Section 19(b)(3)(A) ^[25] of the Act and Rule 19b-4(f)(6) ^[26] thereunder. Because the proposed rule change does not: (i) significantly affect the protection of investors or the public interest; (ii) impose any significant burden on competition; and (iii) become operative for 30 days from the date on which it was filed, or such shorter time as the Commission may designate, it has become effective pursuant to Section 19(b)(3)(A) of the Act and Rule 19b-4(f)(6) thereunder.

The Exchange believes that the proposed rule change meets the criteria of subparagraph (f)(6) of Rule 19b-4 ^[27] because it would not significantly affect the protection of investors or the public interest. Rather, the proposed rule change is designed to give Market Makers the ability to select a TIF of IOC for quotes in bulk messages. Moreover, as described in the Purpose and Statutory Basis sections, the proposed rule change is substantially similar to the rules of Cboe Options, C2, and EDGX, with differences based on different rule structures of those exchanges. Accordingly, the Exchange believes that this proposed rule change is non-controversial because it raises no new or novel issues not already considered by the Commission. Accordingly, the Exchange believes that the proposed rule change is eligible for immediate effectiveness.^[28]

Furthermore, Rule 19b-4(f)(6) requires a self-regulatory organization to give the Commission written notice of its intent to file the proposed rule change at least five business days prior to the date of filing of the proposed rule change, or such shorter time as designated by the Commission. The Exchange has satisfied this requirement.^[29]

At any time within 60 days of the filing of the proposed rule change, the Commission summarily may temporarily suspend such rule change if it appears to the Commission that such action is necessary or appropriate in the public interest, for the protection of investors, or otherwise in furtherance of the purposes of the Act. If the Commission takes such action, the Commission shall institute proceedings under Section 19(b)(2)(B) ^[30] of the Act to determine whether the proposed rule change should be approved or disapproved.

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 (https://www.sec.gov/​rules/​sro.shtml); or
• Send an email torule-comments@sec.gov. Please include file number SR-IEX-2026-17 on the subject line. ( printed page 38054)

Paper Comments

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

All submissions should refer to file number SR-IEX-2026-17. This file number should be included on the subject line if email is used. To help the Commission process and review your comments more efficiently, please use only one method. The Commission will post all comments on the Commission's internet website ( https://www.sec.gov/​rules/​sro.shtml). Copies of the filing will be available for inspection and copying at the principal office of the Exchange. Do not include personal identifiable information in submissions; you should submit only information that you wish to make available publicly. We may redact in part or withhold entirely from publication submitted material that is obscene or subject to copyright protection. All submissions should refer to file number SR-IEX-2026-17 and should be submitted on or before July 15, 2026.