Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 183 / Friday, September 22, 2023 / Notices 65415 

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

2 15 U.S.C. 78a. 

3 17 CFR 240.19b–4. 

4The Exchange previously filed to amend the Fee 

Schedule on September 1, 2023 (SR–NYSEARCA– 

2023–60) and withdrew such filing on September 

12, 2023. 

5See Fee Schedule, NYSE Arca OPTIONS: 

TRADE-RELATED CHARGES FOR STANDARD 

OPTIONS, TRANSACTION FEE FOR ELECTRONIC 

EXECUTIONS—PER CONTRACT. 

6See, e.g., Fee Schedule, DISCOUNT IN TAKE 

LIQUIDITY FEES FOR PROFESSIONAL 

CUSTOMER AND NON-CUSTOMER LIQUIDITY 

REMOVING INTEREST. 

7See note 5, supra. 

8See note 6, supra. 

9 15 U.S.C. 78f(b). 

10 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(4) and (5). 

11See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 51808 

(June 9, 2005), 70 FR 37496, 37499 (June 29, 2005) 

(S7–10–04) (‘‘Reg NMS Adopting Release’’). 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–98422; File No. SR– 

NYSEARCA–2023–62] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; NYSE 

Arca, Inc.; Notice of Filing and 

Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed 

Rule Change To Modify the NYSE Arca 

Options Fee Schedule 

September 18, 2023. 

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

Securities Exchange Act of 1934 

(‘‘Act’’) 2 and Rule 19b–4 thereunder,3

notice is hereby given that, on 

September 12, 2023, NYSE Arca, Inc. 

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

with the Securities and Exchange 

Commission (the ‘‘Commission’’) the 

proposed rule change as described in 

Items I and II below, which Items have 

been prepared by the self-regulatory 

organization. The Commission is 

publishing this notice to solicit 

comments on the proposed rule change 

from interested persons. 

I. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement of the Terms of Substance of 

the Proposed Rule Change 

The Exchange proposes to modify the 

NYSE Arca Options Fee Schedule (‘‘Fee 

Schedule’’) to add the Customer Take 

Fee Discount Tiers. The Exchange 

proposes to implement the fee change 

effective September 12, 2023. The 

proposed rule change is available on the 

Exchange’s website at www.nyse.com, at 

the principal office of the Exchange, and 

at the Commission’s Public Reference 

Room. 

II. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement of the Purpose of, and 

Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule 

Change 

In its filing with the Commission, the 

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 purpose of this filing is to amend 

the Fee Schedule to introduce a new 

pricing incentive, the Customer Take 

Fee Discount Tiers (‘‘Take Fee 

Discounts’’). The Exchange proposes to 

implement the rule change on 

September 12, 2023.4

If an OTP Holder or OTP Firm 

(collectively, ‘‘OTP Holders’’) executes a 

transaction that removes or ‘‘takes’’ 

liquidity on the Exchange, the OTP 

Holder is charged a ‘‘Take Liquidity’’ fee 

(referred to herein as a ‘‘Take Fee’’) and 

such liquidity may be referred to as 

‘‘liquidity removing’’ or ‘‘liquidity 

taking.’’ 5 To offset such costs and 

encourage market participants to direct 

order flow to the Exchange, the 

Exchange offers Take Fee discounts to 

some market participants for executions 

in Penny and non-Penny issues.6

Currently, Customer executions in 

Penny and non-Penny issues are subject 

to Take Fees of $0.49 and $0.85, 

respectively.7 The Exchange now 

proposes to offer tiered Take Fee 

discounts on Customer executions in 

both Penny and non-Penny issues. 

Specifically, the Exchange proposes 

tiered per contract discounts on 

Customer Take Fees based on an OTP 

Holder’s achievement of certain volume 

qualifications in average electronic 

executions per day. As proposed, Tier 1 

of the Take Fee Discounts would offer 

a $0.01 discount on Customer Take Fees 

if an OTP Holder achieves at least 

0.20% of TCADV from Customer 

liquidity removing interest in all issues; 

Tier 2 would offer a $0.02 discount on 

Customer Take Fees to an OTP Holder 

that achieves at least 0.40% of TCADV 

from Customer liquidity removing 

interest in all issues and 1% of TCADV 

from Customer posting in all issues; and 

Tier 3 would offer a $0.03 discount on 

Customer Take Fees to an OTP Holder 

that achieves at least 0.60% of TCADV 

from Customer liquidity removing 

interest in all issues and 1.50% of 

TCADV from Customer posting in all 

issues. The Take Fee Discounts would 

only apply to Customer orders, and the 

qualifications for the discounts are 

based only on activity in the Customer 

range; activity in the Professional 

Customer range is not included in the 

qualifications and is not eligible to 

receive any of the proposed discounts, 

as Professional Customer orders are 

already eligible for other discounts on 

Take Fees.8 OTP Holders may earn only 

the highest discount for which they 

qualify. 

Although the Exchange cannot predict 

with certainty whether any OTP Holders 

would seek to qualify for the Take Fee 

Discounts, the Exchange believes that 

the proposed change would encourage 

OTP Holders to direct interest, and, in 

particular, Customer liquidity removing 

interest, to the Exchange to earn the 

proposed discounts on Take Fees. 

2. Statutory Basis 

The Exchange believes that the 

proposed rule change is consistent with 

Section 6(b) of the Act,9 in general, and 

furthers the objectives of Sections 

6(b)(4) and (5) of the Act,10 in particular, 

because it provides for the equitable 

allocation of reasonable dues, fees, and 

other charges among its members, 

issuers and other persons using its 

facilities and does not unfairly 

discriminate between customers, 

issuers, brokers or dealers. 

The Proposed Rule Change Is 

Reasonable 

The Exchange operates in a highly 

competitive market. The Commission 

has repeatedly expressed its preference 

for competition over regulatory 

intervention in determining prices, 

products, and services in the securities 

markets. In Regulation NMS, the 

Commission highlighted the importance 

of market forces in determining prices 

and SRO revenues and, also, recognized 

that current regulation of the market 

system ‘‘has been remarkably successful 

in promoting market competition in its 

broader forms that are most important to 

investors and listed companies.’’ 11

There are currently 16 registered 

options exchanges competing for order 

flow. Based on publicly-available 

information, and excluding index-based 

options, no single exchange has more 

than 16% of the market share of 

executed volume of multiply-listed 


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65416 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 183 / Friday, September 22, 2023 / Notices 

12The OCC publishes options and futures volume 

in a variety of formats, including daily and monthly 

volume by exchange, available here: https://

www.theocc.com/Market-Data/Market-DataReports/Volume-and-Open-Interest/MonthlyWeekly-Volume-Statistics. 

13Based on a compilation of OCC data for 

monthly volume of equity-based options and 

monthly volume of equity-based ETF options, see 

id., the Exchange’s market share in equity-based 

options increased slightly from 11.30% for the 

month of July 2022 to 11.50% for the month of July 

2023. 

14See, e.g., Cboe BZX Options Fee Schedule, 

Standard Rates, available at: https://www.cboe.com/ 

us/options/membership/fee_schedule/bzx/ 

(providing for rates of $0.46 to $0.48 for Customer 

liquidity removing interest in Penny issues and rate 

of $0.85 for Customer liquidity removing interest in 

non-Penny issues). 

15See, e.g., Cboe BZX Options Fee Schedule, 

Customer, Firm, Broker Dealer and Joint Back Office 

Penny Take Volume Tiers, available at: https://

www.cboe.com/us/options/membership/fee_

schedule/bzx/ (providing tiered rates for Customer 

liquidity removing volume in Penny issues based 

on volume qualifications, which, similar to the 

Exchange’s proposal, represent $0.01 or $0.02 

discounts on standard fee for take volume). 

16See note 6, supra. 

17See Reg NMS Adopting Release, supra note 11, 

at 37499. 

equity and ETF options trades.12

Therefore, no exchange possesses 

significant pricing power in the 

execution of multiply-listed equity and 

ETF options order flow. More 

specifically, in July 2023, the Exchange 

had less than 12% market share of 

executed volume of multiply-listed 

equity and ETF options trades.13

The Exchange believes that the evershifting market share among the 

exchanges from month to month 

demonstrates that market participants 

can shift order flow, or discontinue or 

reduce use of certain categories of 

products, in response to fee changes. 

Accordingly, competitive forces 

constrain options exchange transaction 

fees. Stated otherwise, modifications to 

exchange transaction fees can have a 

direct effect on the ability of an 

exchange to compete for order flow. 

The Exchange believes that the 

proposed Take Fee Discounts would 

incent OTP Holders to increase the 

amount of Customer interest sent to the 

Exchange, especially liquidity removing 

interest, which benefits all market 

participants by providing more trading 

opportunities, thereby making the 

Exchange a more attractive execution 

venue. The Exchange further believes 

that the proposed qualifications for the 

Take Fee Discounts are attainable for 

OTP Holders based on recent volumes 

and that the proposed amounts of the 

discounts are reasonable, as the 

Exchange’s rates for Customer liquidity 

removing interest would remain in 

range of and competitive with the rates 

assessed by at least one other options 

exchange.14

To the extent the proposed rule 

change attracts greater volume and 

liquidity by encouraging OTP Holders to 

increase their options volume on the 

Exchange, the Exchange believes the 

proposed change would improve the 

Exchange’s overall competitiveness and 

strengthen its market quality for all 

market participants. In the backdrop of 

the competitive environment in which 

the Exchange operates, the proposed 

rule change is a reasonable attempt by 

the Exchange to increase the depth of its 

market and improve its market share 

relative to its competitors, including 

another options exchange that offers 

tiered rates for certain Customer 

liquidity removing interest.15

The Proposed Rule Change Is an 

Equitable Allocation of Credits and Fees 

The Exchange believes the proposed 

rule change is an equitable allocation of 

its fees and credits. The proposal is 

based on the amount and type of 

business transacted on the Exchange, 

and OTP Holders can attempt to qualify 

for the discounts or not. Moreover, the 

proposal is designed to incent OTP 

Holders to continue to direct Customer 

liquidity removing interest to the 

Exchange and to aggregate all liquidity 

removing interest at the Exchange as a 

primary execution venue. To the extent 

that the proposed change attracts more 

opportunities for execution of Customer 

interest on the Exchange, this increased 

order flow would continue to make the 

Exchange a more competitive venue for 

order execution. Thus, the Exchange 

believes the proposed rule change 

would improve market quality for all 

market participants on the Exchange 

and, as a consequence, attract more 

order flow to the Exchange thereby 

improving market-wide quality and 

price discovery. 

The Proposed Rule Change Is Not 

Unfairly Discriminatory 

The Exchange believes is the 

proposed Take Fee Discounts are not 

unfairly discriminatory because they 

would be available to all similarlysituated market participants on an equal 

and non-discriminatory basis. The 

Exchange also believes that the 

proposed change is not unfairly 

discriminatory to Professional 

Customers and non-Customers, as those 

market participants are already afforded 

discounts on Take Fees under the 

current Fee Schedule.16

The proposal is based on the amount 

and type of business transacted on the 

Exchange, and OTP Holders are not 

obligated to try to achieve the proposed 

qualifications to earn the Take Fee 

Discounts, nor are they obligated to 

direct liquidity removing interest or 

posted interest to the Exchange. To the 

extent that the proposed change attracts 

more interest, including liquidity 

removing interest, to the Exchange, this 

increased order flow would continue to 

make the Exchange a more competitive 

venue for order execution. Thus, the 

Exchange believes the proposed rule 

change would improve market quality 

for all market participants on the 

Exchange and, as a consequence, attract 

more order flow to the Exchange thereby 

improving market-wide quality and 

price discovery. The resulting increased 

volume and liquidity would provide 

more trading opportunities and tighter 

spreads to all market participants and 

thus would promote just and equitable 

principles of trade, remove 

impediments to and perfect the 

mechanism of a free and open market 

and a national market system and, in 

general, to protect investors and the 

public interest. 

Finally, the Exchange believes that it 

is subject to significant competitive 

forces, as described below in the 

Exchange’s statement regarding the 

burden on competition. 

B. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement on Burden on Competition 

In accordance with Section 6(b)(8) of 

the Act, the Exchange does not believe 

that the proposed rule change would 

impose any burden on competition that 

is not necessary or appropriate in 

furtherance of the purposes of the Act. 

Instead, as discussed above, the 

Exchange believes that the proposed 

change would encourage the submission 

of additional liquidity to a public 

exchange, thereby promoting market 

depth, price discovery and transparency 

and enhancing order execution 

opportunities for all market 

participants. As a result, the Exchange 

believes that the proposed change 

furthers the Commission’s goal in 

adopting Regulation NMS of fostering 

integrated competition among orders, 

which promotes ‘‘more efficient pricing 

of individual stocks for all types of 

orders, large and small.’’ 17

Intramarket Competition. The 

proposed change is designed to attract 

additional order flow to the Exchange, 

including both liquidity removing 

interest and posting interest. The 

Exchange believes that the proposed 

change would incent OTP Holders to 

continue to direct their liquidity 

removing order flow to the Exchange. 

Greater liquidity benefits all market 

participants on the Exchange and 


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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 183 / Friday, September 22, 2023 / Notices 65417 

18The OCC publishes options and futures volume 

in a variety of formats, including daily and monthly 

volume by exchange, available here: https://

www.theocc.com/Market-Data/Market-DataReports/Volume-and-Open-Interest/MonthlyWeekly-Volume-Statistics. 

19Based on a compilation of OCC data for 

monthly volume of equity-based options and 

monthly volume of equity-based ETF options, see 

id., the Exchange’s market share in equity-based 

options increased slightly from 11.30% for the 

month of July 2022 to 11.50% for the month of July 

2023. 

20See note 14, supra. 

21 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A). 

22 17 CFR 240.19b–4(f)(2). 

23 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(2)(B). 24 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12). 

increased liquidity removing order flow 

would increase opportunities for 

execution of other trading interest. The 

proposed modifications would be 

available to all similarly-situated market 

participants and, as such, the proposed 

change would not impose a disparate 

burden on competition among market 

participants on the Exchange. 

Intermarket Competition. The 

Exchange operates in a highly 

competitive market in which market 

participants can readily favor one of the 

16 competing option exchanges if they 

deem fee levels at a particular venue to 

be excessive. In such an environment, 

the Exchange must continually adjust its 

fees to remain competitive with other 

exchanges and to attract order flow to 

the Exchange. Based on publiclyavailable information, and excluding 

index-based options, no single exchange 

has more than 16% of the market share 

of executed volume of multiply-listed 

equity and ETF options trades.18

Therefore, currently no exchange 

possesses significant pricing power in 

the execution of multiply-listed equity 

and ETF options order flow. More 

specifically, in July 2023, the Exchange 

had less than 12% market share of 

executed volume of multiply-listed 

equity and ETF options trades.19

The Exchange believes that the 

proposed rule change reflects this 

competitive environment because it 

modifies the Exchange’s fees in a 

manner designed to incent OTP Holders 

to direct trading to the Exchange, to 

provide liquidity and to attract order 

flow. To the extent that this purpose is 

achieved, all the Exchange’s market 

participants should benefit from the 

improved market quality and increased 

opportunities for price improvement. 

The Exchange believes that the 

proposed change could promote 

competition between the Exchange and 

other execution venues, including 

another options exchange that currently 

also offers tiered rates for some 

Customer liquidity removing interest,20

by encouraging additional orders to be 

sent to the Exchange for execution. 

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) 21 of the Act and 

subparagraph (f)(2) of Rule 19b–4 22

thereunder, because it establishes a due, 

fee, or other charge imposed by the 

Exchange. 

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) 23 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 to rule-comments@

sec.gov. Please include file number SR– 

NYSEARCA–2023–62 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–NYSEARCA–2023–62. 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 

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 

a.m. and 3 p.m. Copies of the filing also 

will be available for inspection and 

copying at the principal office of the 

Exchange. Do not include personal 

identifiable information in submissions; 

you should submit only information 

that you wish to make available 

publicly. We may redact in part or 

withhold entirely from publication 

submitted material that is obscene or 

subject to copyright protection. All 

submissions should refer to file number 

SR–NYSEARCA–2023–62 and should be 

submitted on or before October 13, 

2023. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated 

authority.24

Sherry R. Haywood, 

Assistant Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2023–20520 Filed 9–21–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 

Guidelines for Reporting Bundled and 

Consolidated Contracts 

AGENCY: U.S. Small Business 

Administration. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Small Business 

Administration (SBA) submits an 

annual Contract Bundling Report to 

Congress which provides the total 

bundled contract dollars and 

information regarding bundled contracts 

for the prior fiscal year (FY). Section 

873 of the National Defense 

Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY 2023 

amended the U.S. Code (U.S.C.) 

requiring data and information on the 

consolidation of contract requirements 

to be included in the annual Contract 

Bundling and Consolidation Report to 

Congress. Beginning in December 2023, 

the Federal agencies shall provide data 


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