830 Federal Register / Vol. 84, No. 21 / Thursday, January 31, 2019 / Notices 

1 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1). 

2 17 CFR 240.19b–4. 

3The Exchange separately offers physical ports 

that grant access to the Exchange’s physical 

connectivity infrastructure. 

4 24% of members that traded equities on BZX in 

November determined that their business does not 

require direct order entry access, and instead 

connect indirectly to the Exchange today through a 

service bureau or other service provider. 

5Logical port fees are limited to logical ports 

within the primary data center. No logical port fees 

are assessed for redundant secondary data center 

ports. See BZX Equities Fee Schedule, Logical Port 

Fees. New requests are prorated for the first month 

of service. Cancellation requests are billed in full 

month increments as firms are required to pay for 

the service for the remainder of the month, unless 

the session is terminated within the first month of 

service. Id. 

6 18% of members that traded equities on BZX in 

November purchased only one or two order entry 

ports. 

Additional Information or Comments: 

Copies of the forms and supporting 

documents can be obtained from Brian 

Foster at (312) 751–4826 or 

Brian.Foster@rrb.gov. 

Comments regarding the information 

collection should be addressed to Brian 

Foster, Railroad Retirement Board, 844 

North Rush Street, Chicago, Illinois 

60611–1275 or Brian.Foster@rrb.gov and 

to the OMB Desk Officer for the RRB, 

Fax: 202–395–6974, Email address: 

OIRA_Submission@omb.eop.gov. 

Brian Foster, 

Clearance Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2019–00450 Filed 1–30–19; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7905–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–84963; File No. SR– 

CboeBZX–2018–095] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; Cboe 

BZX Exchange, Inc.; Notice of Filing 

and Immediate Effectiveness of a 

Proposed Rule Change To Amend the 

BZX Equities Fee Schedule 

December 26, 2018. 

Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the 

Securities Exchange Act of 1934 

(‘‘Act’’),1 and Rule 19b–4 thereunder,2

notice is hereby given that on December 

21, 2018, Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. 

(‘‘Exchange’’ or ‘‘BZX’’) filed with the 

Securities and Exchange Commission 

(‘‘Commission’’) the proposed rule 

change as described in Items I, II, and 

III below, which Items have been 

prepared by the Exchange. The 

Commission is publishing this notice to 

solicit comments on the proposed rule 

change from interested persons. 

I. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement of the Terms of Substance of 

the Proposed Rule Change 

Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. is proposing 

a rule change to change the 

nomenclature associated with the 

current logical port fees charged for 

order entry ports to reflect a new match 

capacity fee that better captures the 

service offering of these products. The 

text of the proposed rule change is 

provided in Exhibit 5. 

The text of the proposed rule change 

is also available on the Exchange’s 

website (http://www.cboe.com/ 

AboutCBOE/ 

CBOELegalRegulatoryHome.aspx), at 

the Exchange’s Office of the Secretary, 

and at the Commission’s Public 

Reference Room. 

II. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement of the Purpose of, and 

Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule 

Change 

In its filing with the Commission, the 

Exchange included statements 

concerning the purpose of and basis for 

the proposed rule change and discussed 

any comments it received on the 

proposed rule change. The text of these 

statements may be examined at the 

places specified in Item IV below. The 

Exchange has prepared summaries, set 

forth in sections A, B, and C below, of 

the most significant aspects of such 

statements. 

A. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement of the Purpose of, and 

Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule 

Change 

1. Purpose 

The Exchange offers two types of 

logical ports that permit members to 

enter orders into its trading system—i.e., 

Financial Information eXchange (‘‘FIX’’) 

and Binary Order Entry (‘‘BOE’’). The 

purpose of the proposed rule change is 

to amend the BZX Equities fee schedule 

to change the nomenclature associated 

with the current logical port fees 

charged for these offerings to reflect a 

new match capacity fee that better 

captures the service offering of these 

products. As communicated to 

members, although the Exchange is 

changing its nomenclature to better 

reflect the services provided to market 

participants, the proposed capacity 

allocations described in this proposed 

rule change would continue to operate 

in the same manner as logical ports 

currently used to connect to the 

Exchange. The Exchange believes, 

however, that properly characterizing 

these fees as ‘‘capacity fees,’’ and 

specifying the actual levels of message 

traffic supported by these products, will 

increase transparency and clarity 

around its charges and reduce confusion 

about the value of the services being 

provided to market participants that 

choose to access these services. 

Today, the Exchange charges all 

logical connectivity fees on a ‘‘per port’’ 

basis. A logical port represents a 

technical port established by the 

Exchange within the Exchange’s trading 

system for the delivery and/or receipt of 

trading messages—i.e., orders, accepts, 

cancels, transactions, etc.3 Market 

participants that wish to connect 

directly to the Exchange can request a 

number of different types of ports, 

including ports that support order entry, 

customizable purge functionality, or the 

receipt of market data. Firms can also 

choose to connect indirectly through a 

number of different third party 

providers, such as another broker-dealer 

or service bureau that the Exchange 

permits through specialized access to 

the Exchange’s trading system and that 

may provide additional services or 

operate at a lower mutualized cost by 

providing access to multiple members.4

Each logical port that supports order 

entry entitles a firm to submit message 

traffic of up to 5,000 messages per 

second, an amount equivalent to 117 

million messages daily, and is currently 

charged at a rate of $550 per month.5

An obvious driver for a member’s 

decision to purchase multiple ports is 

their desire to send or receive additional 

levels of message traffic in some 

manner, either by increasing the 

member’s total amount of message 

capacity available, or by segregating 

order flow for different trading desks 

and clients to avoid latency sensitive 

applications from competing for a single 

thread of resources. For example, a 

member may purchase one or more 

ports for its market making business 

based on the amount of message traffic 

needed to support that business, and 

then purchase separate ports for 

proprietary trading or customer facing 

businesses so that those businesses have 

their own distinct connection, allowing 

the firm to send multiple messages into 

the Exchange’s trading system in 

parallel rather than sequentially. Some 

members that provide direct market 

access to their customers also purchase 

separate ports for different clients as a 

service for latency sensitive customers 

that desire the lowest possible latency to 

improve trading performance. Thus, 

while a smaller firm with a simple 

business model may be able to transact 

on the Exchange using one or two FIX 

or BOE ports that are billed at a modest 

rate of $550 per month each,6 a larger 


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Federal Register / Vol. 84, No. 21 / Thursday, January 31, 2019 / Notices 831 

7Firms that already connect through logical ports 

would have uninterrupted service across the 

established connections and would not need to rerequest capacity allocations. 

8New requests would continue to be prorated for 

the first month of service, and cancellation requests 

would be billed in full month increments. See note 

5 supra. 

9 15 U.S.C. 78f. 

10 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(4). 

11See supra note 4. 

12See supra note 6. Altogether, a significant 

percentage of members (42%) that trade equities on 

BZX purchase two or fewer order entry ports—i.e., 

including members that purchase no ports and 

connect indirectly instead. 

market participant with a substantial 

and diversified U.S. equities business 

may purchase additional order entry 

ports to support both the volume and 

types of activity that they conduct on 

the Exchange. 

Based on data analyzed by the 

Exchange, the top ten BZX members, 

which account as a group for nearly 

two-thirds of BZX equities volume, have 

chosen to purchase 47% of order entry 

ports. More simply put, the top ten BZX 

members have purchased the ability to 

use 47% of the capacity of the BZX 

trading system. In addition to the 

Exchange’s commercial obligations to 

maintain resilient systems capable of 

efficiently processing the message traffic 

that originates from those firms, the 

Exchange is now also under regulatory 

obligations to maintain resilient systems 

while receiving messages at the peak 

capacity of those ports. While the 

Exchange does not know the trading 

results of its members, it is clear that the 

members with larger businesses, based 

on volume executed, have larger 

demands for the capacity of the 

Exchange’s systems. It should also be 

noted that half of those top ten members 

are net positive in terms of total revenue 

flows as the trading rebates provided to 

these firms for liquidity and order flow 

exceed the sum of all non-transaction 

and transaction fees collected from 

them. 

In addition to volume, the types of 

trading strategies employed by a 

particular member may also impact the 

amount of message traffic delivered to 

Exchange systems, and hence the 

number of ports purchased to support 

their equities trading business. As a 

national securities exchange, the 

Exchange is tasked with cultivating a 

vibrant and competitive market that 

facilitates fair and orderly trading 

between a wide range of market 

participants that employ a wide range of 

trading strategies. These market 

participants together help cultivate the 

equities trading ecosystem, and both 

support that ecosystem in different ways 

and use different amounts of resources 

(i.e., capacity) in doing so. Some simple 

trading strategies such as those 

employed by investors seeking to source 

available liquidity at the national best 

bid or offer may require a modest 

amount of capacity. Other trading 

strategies used by professional market 

makers or algorithmic traders that 

involve the frequent entry, modification, 

and cancellation of orders, may require 

additional capacity, including 

potentially higher peak capacity when 

multiple trading strategies or algorithms 

across multiple logical ports attempt to 

access the Exchange at similar and 

granular time intervals due to 

anticipated changes in the market. The 

Exchange believes that charging for 

capacity ensures that firms that demand 

the most resources are charged 

appropriately, while firms that demand 

relatively less capacity can connect and 

trade on the Exchange at a low cost. 

Charging fees based on allocated 

capacity thus ensures that the cost of 

access is equitably apportioned between 

market participants based on their 

business needs. Nevertheless, the 

Exchange believes that there is some 

confusion in the industry surrounding 

how the Exchange and other national 

securities exchanges charge for 

connectivity, including the burden on 

smaller firms that actually benefit from 

the current structure where market 

participants are charged based on the 

number of ports (i.e., capacity) that they 

request. In the interest of transparency, 

the Exchange is therefore proposing to 

replace its ‘‘per port’’ fees with capacity 

fees that more accurately capture the 

intent this fee. While the Exchange’s 

logical connectivity offerings will 

continue to operate in the same manner 

as they do today, the Exchange believes 

that the proposed changes in 

terminology, which connect the fees 

charged for logical connectivity to the 

capacity requested by market 

participants, would shed additional 

light on this service offering. As 

proposed, fees would be explicitly 

assessed based on the capacity 

allocation (i.e., messages per second) 

requested for order entry in the 

Exchange’s primary data center.7

Specifically, the match capacity fee 

would be $550 per month for an 

allocation of 5,000 messages per 

second.8 Members that require more 

capacity due to the size of their U.S. 

equities business, the trading strategies 

that they employ, the desire to reduce 

latency by maintaining multiple 

separate logical connections, or any 

other reason, would be able to continue 

purchasing additional capacity 

allocations in the primary data center at 

the same monthly rate. As is the case 

today, no fee would be assessed for 

redundant capacity in the secondary 

data center thus providing members 

with free, identical capacity allocations 

in the secondary data center based on 

their capacity requests in the primary. 

2. Statutory Basis 

The Exchange believes that the 

proposed rule change is consistent with 

Section 6 of the Act,9 in general, and 

furthers the requirements of Section 

6(b)(4),10 in particular, as it is designed 

to provide for the equitable allocation of 

reasonable dues, fees and other charges 

among its members and other persons 

using its facilities. In light of recent 

debate and calls for transparency 

around exchange charges for market 

access, the Exchange believes that the 

proposed changes to how fees for logical 

connectivity are reflected on the fee 

schedule would shed additional light on 

how market participants are charged for 

connectivity. The Exchange believes 

that its fees for logical connectivity, 

which would now be reflected as a 

match capacity fee, continue to be 

reasonable, equitable, and not unfairly 

discriminatory as they are designed to 

ensure that firms that use the most 

capacity pay for that capacity, rather 

than placing that burden on market 

participants that have more modest 

needs. 

Today, the Exchange charges a ‘‘per 

port’’ fee for logical connectivity. This 

fee is in effect a capacity fee as each FIX 

or BOE port used for order entry 

supports a specified capacity (i.e., 

messages per second) in the matching 

engine, and firms purchase additional 

logical ports when they require more 

capacity due to their business needs. 

Smaller members that demand more 

limited message traffic may connect 

through a service bureau or other 

service provider, as chosen by 24% of 

members,11 or may choose to purchase 

one or two order entry ports, as chosen 

by 18% of members.12 At the same time, 

firms with more order flow, or that 

employ unique trading strategies that 

result in increased message traffic 

throughout the trading day or at times 

of higher peak traffic, may choose to 

purchase additional ports to support 

their business. The Exchange believes 

that the proposed match capacity fees 

are appropriate as these fees would 

ensure that market participants continue 

to pay for the amount of capacity that 

they request. The Exchange therefore 

believes that its logical connectivity fees 

are aligned with the goals of the 

Commission in facilitating a competitive 


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832 Federal Register / Vol. 84, No. 21 / Thursday, January 31, 2019 / Notices 

13The Exchange has invested considerable time 

and resources in designing and maintaining a 

resilient trading system that is capable of handling 

the message traffic produced by members in a 

manner that complies with its obligations as a 

national securities exchange. 

14The dataset includes all firms that have 

purchased order entry ports, including BZX 

members or non-members that provide indirect 

access to the Exchange. 

15The order rate includes, for each firm, all new 

orders, modifies, and cancel messages submitted 

into the trading system. The average order rate is 

calculated by dividing the number of messages by 

the number of seconds for the period. 

16 Individually, all but one of the firms in the top 

five generated more message traffic than the total 

message traffic generated by all firms outside of the 

top 20 combined, and the firm with the highest 

order rate alone generated almost twice as much as 

such firms. 

market for all firms that trade on the 

Exchange. 

The proposed match capacity fee 

would not change the services provided 

to market participants, and would be 

billed at the same monthly rate as 

currently charged today on a per port 

basis, but would ensure that the way the 

Exchange’s fees are described is more 

closely aligned with the goal of those 

fees. Specifically, each match capacity 

fee paid by a member would allow that 

firm to continue to submit up to 5,000 

messages per second to the Exchange for 

processing in accordance with the 

Exchange’s trading rules.13 For only 

$550 per month a member would 

therefore be able submit as many as 117 

million messages daily into the 

Exchange’s trading system. In addition, 

market participants that desire more 

total capacity due to their business 

needs, or that wish to segregate order 

flow by purchasing separate capacity 

allocations to reduce latency or for other 

operational reasons, would be permitted 

to choose to purchase such additional 

capacity at the same marginal cost. The 

Exchange believes that it is reasonable, 

equitable, and not unfairly 

discriminatory to charge for 

connectivity in this manner as this 

structure ensures that the firms can 

choose based on their needs, and the 

firms that pay the most are the ones that 

demand the most resources from the 

Exchange. 

To illustrate the large variance in 

message traffic used by BZX members, 

the Exchange compiled statistics on the 

average message traffic generated during 

November 2018 by each firm across 

three periods: (1) The open (9:30 a.m.– 

9:35 a.m.), (2) regular trading (9:35 a.m.– 

3:55 p.m.), and (3) the close (3:55 p.m.– 

4:00 p.m.).14 The summary table below 

shows the average order rate/second for 

firms,15 bucketed in groups based on 

their rank in the distribution. 

Significantly higher message traffic is 

generated by firms at the top of the 

distribution, which represents the firms 

with the largest U.S. equities businesses, 

with firms at the bottom of the 

distribution accounting for a small 

percentage of traffic generated. 

SUMMARY TABLE—AVERAGE ORDER RATE/SECOND

Rank Open Regular 

trading Close 

1–5 ............................................................................................................................................... 4,693 2,059 3,904 

6–10 ............................................................................................................................................. 1,743 739 1,173 

11–20 ........................................................................................................................................... 666 296 437 

21–30 ........................................................................................................................................... 176 99 207 

31–40 ........................................................................................................................................... 123 42 68 

41–50 ........................................................................................................................................... 68 12 28 

51+ ............................................................................................................................................... 2 1 2 

While message traffic for individual 

market participants typically peaks at 

higher levels during certain periods of 

greater market activity, not a single firm 

had an average order rate that exceeded 

the 5,000 messages per second 

permitted over a single port for the 

period of regular trading that accounts 

for the substantial majority of the 

trading day. In fact, only five firms 

exceeded an average of greater than 

1,000 messages per second, and these 

firms collectively generated more 

message traffic than every other firm 

combined.16 In the first and last five 

minutes of the trading day around the 

open and close of trading, where 

volatility and therefore message traffic is 

typically higher, only three firms had an 

average order rate that exceeded 5,000 

messages per second, with the top five 

again accounting for more message 

traffic than all other market participants 

combined in both of these periods. A 

number of sophisticated market 

participants may also have higher peak 

traffic intraday if their business involves 

the frequent modification or 

cancellation of a large number of orders 

at very granular millisecond or 

microsecond time intervals, particularly 

when multiple trading strategies or 

algorithms that come through different 

logical connections attempt to access 

the market simultaneously. The 

Exchange must build resilient trading 

systems that are able support significant 

bursts in message traffic from such 

firms, including most recently on 

October 18, 2018 when the Exchange 

successfully processed a historical high 

burst in message traffic of 1,140,183 

messages per second. 

Thus, although certain broker-dealers 

with large and profitable U.S. equities 

businesses may purchase multiple order 

entry ports, the Exchange believes that 

this is appropriately driven by the 

amount of message traffic that they 

generate throughout the day and at 

periods where more message traffic is 

generated. Furthermore, the data shows 

that market participants with modest 

capacity needs can access the Exchange 

at a very low cost. While the Exchange 

believes that encouraging order flow 

and liquidity from a diverse set of 

market participants facilitates price 

discovery and improves the quality of 

our markets, the Exchange also believes 

that firms that desire additional capacity 

to support trading strategies with higher 

peak traffic should continue to be 

charged for the capacity that they 

request rather than have this cost 

mutualized across firms with a much 

smaller footprint. 

With the proposed fees, firms with 

modest capacity needs could continue 

to pay for and operate their business 

with the baseline capacity of 5,000 

messages per second, which represents 

the equivalent of one logical port today. 

Furthermore, large and sophisticated 

market participants that require 

significantly more capacity than their 

smaller counterparts would be able to 

purchase that capacity from the 

Exchange at a reasonable marginal cost 

and thereby satisfy their business needs, 

including the need for higher peak 

traffic. The Exchange therefore believes 

that the proposed match capacity fee 

both appropriately reflects the benefits 


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Federal Register / Vol. 84, No. 21 / Thursday, January 31, 2019 / Notices 833 

17See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 73639 

(November 19, 2014), 79 FR 72251 (December 5, 

2014) (File No. S7–01–13) (Regulation SCI Adopting 

Release). 

18 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A). 

19 17 CFR 240.19b–4(f). 

20 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12). 

1 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1). 

2 17 CFR 240.19b–4. 

3See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 84547 

(November 7, 2018), 83 FR 56890 (‘‘Notice’’). 

4See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 84772, 

83 FR 64381 (December 14, 2018). 

5 15 U.S.C. 78(s)(b)(2)(B). 

to different firms of being able to send 

messages into the Exchange’s trading 

system, and facilitates the Commission’s 

goal of ensuring that critical market 

infrastructure has ‘‘levels of capacity, 

integrity, resiliency, availability, and 

security adequate to maintain their 

operational capability and promote the 

maintenance of fair and orderly 

markets.’’ 17

B. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement on Burden on Competition 

The Exchange does not believe that 

the proposed rule change would result 

in any burden on competition that is not 

necessary or appropriate in furtherance 

of the purposes of the Act. As explained 

herein, the proposed rule change is 

designed to increase transparency 

around the Exchange’s fees by changing 

the nomenclature associated with ‘‘per 

port’’ fees for order entry logical ports 

to reflect a capacity fee. The Exchange 

believes that charging logical 

connectivity fees based on the capacity 

used by a market participant is procompetitive because it ensures that 

firms with the largest U.S. equities 

market share, or that employ trading 

strategies that result in increased 

message traffic, continue to pay for the 

capacity that they request, while smaller 

firms can connect and trade at a low 

cost. 

C. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement on Comments on the 

Proposed Rule Change Received From 

Members, Participants, or Others 

No written comments were either 

solicited or received. 

III. Date of Effectiveness of the 

Proposed Rule Change and Timing for 

Commission Action 

The foregoing rule change has become 

effective pursuant to Section 19(b)(3)(A) 

of the Act 18 and paragraph (f) of Rule 

19b–4 19 thereunder. At any time within 

60 days of the filing of the proposed rule 

change, the Commission summarily may 

temporarily suspend such rule change if 

it appears to the Commission that such 

action is necessary or appropriate in the 

public interest, for the protection of 

investors, or otherwise in furtherance of 

the purposes of the Act. If the 

Commission takes such action, the 

Commission will institute proceedings 

to determine whether the proposed rule 

change should be approved or 

disapproved. 

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 rule-comments@

sec.gov. Please include File Number SR– 

CboeBZX–2018–095 on the subject line. 

Paper Comments 

• Send paper comments in triplicate 

to Secretary, Securities and Exchange 

Commission, 100 F Street NE, 

Washington, DC 20549–1090. 

All submissions should refer to File 

Number SR–CboeBZX–2018–095. 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 (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 website 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. 

Persons submitting comments are 

cautioned that we do not redact or edit 

personal identifying information from 

comment submissions. You should 

submit only information that you wish 

to make available publicly. All 

submissions should refer to File 

Number SR–CboeBZX–2018–095 and 

should be submitted on or before 

February 21, 2019. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated 

authority.20

Eduardo A. Aleman, 

Deputy Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2019–00474 Filed 1–30–19; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–84976; File No. SR– 

NYSEARCA–2018–77] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; NYSE 

Arca, Inc.; Order Instituting 

Proceedings To Determine Whether To 

Approve or Disapprove a Proposed 

Rule Change To Amend Rule 7.44–E To 

Expand and Modify the Exchange’s 

Retail Liquidity Program 

December 26, 2018. 

I. Introduction 

On October 26, 2018, NYSE Arca, Inc. 

(‘‘NYSE Arca’’ or the ‘‘Exchange’’) filed 

with the Securities and Exchange 

Commission (the ‘‘Commission’’), 

pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the 

Securities Exchange Act of 1934 

(‘‘Act’’) 1 and Rule 19b–4 thereunder,2 a 

proposed rule change to amend Rule 

7.44–E to expand the Exchange’s Retail 

Liquidity Program (‘‘RLP’’) to all 

securities traded on NYSE Arca and 

make certain other modifications. 

The proposed rule change was 

published for comment in the Federal 

Register on November 14, 2018.3 On 

December 10, 2018, the Commission 

extended to February 12, 2019, the time 

period in which to approve, disapprove, 

or institute proceedings to determine 

whether to approve or disapprove, the 

proposed rule change.4 The Commission 

received no comments on the proposed 

rule change. This order institutes 

proceedings under Section 19(b)(2)(B) of 

the Act 5 to determine whether to 

approve or disapprove the proposed 

rule change. 

II. Summary of the Proposed Rule 

Change 

The Exchange proposes to amend 

Rule 7.44–E, which sets forth the 

Exchange’s Retail Liquidity Program 

(the ‘‘Program’’), to: (i) Expand the 

Program’s availability to all securities 

traded on the Exchange; (ii) remove 


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