Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 248 / Thursday, December 28, 2023 / Notices 89745 

30 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12). 

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

2 17 CFR 240.19b–4. 

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

4 17 CFR 240.19b–4(f)(6). 

5https://www.cboe.com/us/equities/market_

statistics/short_interest/ 

6See FINRA Rule 4560. 

7A BZX-listed security is a security listed on the 

Exchange pursuant to Chapter 14 of the Exchange’s 

Rules and includes both corporate listed securities 

and Exchange Traded Products (‘‘ETPs’’). 

8 ‘‘Cycle Settlement Date’’ is the reporting period 

date. 

9 ‘‘BATS-Symbol’’ is the Exchange-assigned 

symbol for the given security. 

10 ‘‘Number Shares Net Short Current Cycle’’ is 

the total of uncovered open short interest positions 

in a particular security in shares, for the current 

reporting period. 

11 ‘‘Number of Shares Net Short Previous Cycle’’ 

is the total number of uncovered open short interest 

positions in a particular security in shares, for the 

previous reporting period. 

12 ‘‘Cycle Average Daily Trade Volume’’ is the 

number of shares traded on average per day in a 

particular security in shares. 

13 ‘‘Minimum Number of Trade Days to Cover 

Shorts’’ is the ratio of the current short interest 

position over the average daily volume for the 

current settlement date. 

14 ‘‘Split Indicator’’ indicates whether the security 

has undergone a stock split during the current 

reporting period. 

15 ‘‘Manual Revision Indicator’’ indicates whether 

the security’s short interest for the previous 

reporting period has been revised. 

16 ‘‘Percent Change in Short Position’’ is the 

percent change from the current reporting period’s 

short interest compared to the previous reporting 

period’s short interest. 

17 ‘‘Change in Short Position from Previous’’ is 

the difference between the current and previous 

reporting period of uncovered short interest 

positions in a particular security in shares. 

18The Exchange intends to submit a separate 

filing to establish fees for the Short Interest Report. 

19See https://datashop.cboe.com/. 

submitted material that is obscene or 

subject to copyright protection. All 

submissions should refer to file number 

SR–CboeEDGA–2023–022 and should 

be submitted on or before January 18, 

2024. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated 

authority.30

Christina Z. Milnor, 

Assistant Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2023–28609 Filed 12–27–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–99224; File No. SR– 

CboeBZX–2023–102] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; Cboe 

BZX Exchange, Inc.; Notice of Filing 

and Immediate Effectiveness of a 

Proposed Rule Change To Amend Rule 

11.22 To Introduce a New Data Product 

To Be Known as the Short Interest 

Report 

December 21, 2023. 

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 

11, 2023, Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. (the 

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

Securities and Exchange Commission 

(‘‘Commission’’) the proposed rule 

change as described in Items I and II 

below, which Items have been prepared 

by the Exchange. The Exchange filed the 

proposal as a ‘‘non-controversial’’ 

proposed rule change pursuant to 

section 19(b)(3)(A)(iii) of the Act 3 and 

Rule 19b–4(f)(6) thereunder.4 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. (the 

‘‘Exchange’’ or ‘‘BZX’’) proposes to 

amend Rule 11.22 to introduce a new 

data product to be known as the Short 

Interest Report. The text of the proposed 

rule change is provided below. 

(additions are italicized; deletions are 

[bracketed]) 

* * * * * 

Rules of Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. 

* * * * * 

Rule 11.22. Data Products 

The Exchange offers the following 

data products free of charge, except as 

otherwise noted in the Exchange’s fee 

schedule: 

(a)–(m) No change. 

(n) Short Interest Report. The Short 

Interest Report contains a summary of 

consolidated market short interest 

positions in all BZX-listed securities. 

* * * * * 

The text of the proposed rule change 

is also available on the Exchange’s 

website (http://markets.cboe.com/us/ 

equities/regulation/rule_filings/bzx/), 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 proposes to amend 

Rule 11.22 to adopt new subparagraph 

(n) to include the Short Interest Report 

as an Exchange data product. 

The Exchange currently makes 

available via its website, without charge, 

a Short Interest Report.5 By way of 

background, pursuant to the Financial 

Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. 

(‘‘FINRA’’) Rule 4560, each FINRA 

member firm is required to report its 

‘‘total’’ short interest positions in all 

customer and proprietary firm 

accounts.6 FINRA uses the short interest 

data to, among other things, assess its 

members’ short selling activity and 

compliance with Regulation SHO. The 

short interest data provided by FINRA 

members also provides analytical and 

investment data that the brokerage 

industry, academic institutions and 

investors use in developing riskassessment tools and trading models. 

The Short Interest Report that the 

Exchange currently makes available is a 

summary of consolidated market short 

interest positions in all BZX-listed 

securities 7 only as reported by FINRA. 

The file is provided daily, for each 

business day, but values are only 

updated twice per month. 

Proposed Rule 11.22(n) provides that 

the Short Interest Report contains a 

summary of consolidated market short 

interest positions in all BZX-listed 

securities. The report data fields include 

Cycle Settlement Date,8 BATS-Symbol,9

Security Name, Number of Shares Net 

Short Current Cycle,10 Number of 

Shares Net Short Previous Cycle,11

Cycle Average Daily Trade Volume,12

Minimum Number of Trade Days to 

Cover Shorts,13 Split Indicator,14

Manual Revision Indicator,15 Percent 

Change in Short Position,16 and Change 

in Short Position from Previous.17

Cboe LiveVol, LLC (‘‘LiveVol’’), a 

wholly owned subsidiary of the 

Exchange’s parent company, Cboe 

Global Markets, Inc., will make the 

Short Interest Reports available for 

purchase 18 to Members and nonMembers on the LiveVol DataShop 

website.19

The Exchange notes that the data 

fields included in the Short Interest 

Report are substantially similar to the 


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89746 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 248 / Thursday, December 28, 2023 / Notices 

20See Specifications for Short Interest file, 

available at: https://www.nasdaq.com/solutions/ 

short-interest-report. 21See NYSE Group Short Interest Client 

Specification, available at: NYSE_Group_Short_

Interest_Client_Specification_v1.5.pdf. Unlike 

NYSE, the proposed Short Volume Report will not 

include the trading exchange, as the proposed 

report includes short interest information only for 

transactions executed on BZX. 

22See supra note 20. 

23See supra note 21. 

24 15 U.S.C. 78f(b). 

25 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5). 

26 Id. 

27See supra note 20. 

28See supra note 21. 

fields included by the Nasdaq Stock 

Market LLC (‘‘Nasdaq’’) 20 and the New 

York Stock Exchange LLC (‘‘NYSE’’) 21

in their Short Interest Report files. 

Specifically, the Nasdaq Short Interest 

Report file also includes Security Name 

and Symbol, Current Shares Short, 

Previous Month Shares Short, Change in 

Shares Short, Percent Change, Average 

Daily Share Volume, Days to Cover, and 

Stock Split Flag, and New Issue Flag.22

The proposed Short Interest Report is 

also similar to NYSE’s Short Interest 

Report file, which includes Stock 

Symbol and Standard Suffix, Issue 

Name, Revision Indicator, Split 

Indicator Current Short Interest 

Position, Previous Short Interest 

Position, Change in Short Interest 

Position, Average Daily Volume, and 

Current Days to Cover.23 Accordingly, 

the data fields included in the Short 

Interest Report are nearly identical to 

the fields included by Nasdaq and 

NYSE in their respective short interest 

reports, except that the Exchange will 

not include one field that appears 

within the Nasdaq report (i.e., the New 

Issue Flag) and three fields that appear 

within the NYSE report (i.e., the Change 

in Days to Cover, Free Float and Change 

in Average Daily Volume). The 

Exchange’s proposed Short Interest 

Report will include only data points 

provided by FINRA, and as the 

foregoing fields are not included in the 

FINRA-provided data points, the 

Exchange will not include such fields in 

the report. Additionally, like NYSE, the 

Exchange will offer historical Short 

Interest Reports, dating back to March 

31, 2015, which will include the same 

data fields as the daily end-of-day files. 

The Exchange anticipates that a wide 

variety of market participants will 

purchase the proposed Short Interest 

Report, including, but not limited to, 

active equity trading firms and 

academic institutions. For example, the 

Exchange notes that academic 

institutions may utilize the Short 

Interest Report data and as a result 

promote research and studies of the 

equities industry to the benefit of all 

market participants. The Exchange 

further believes the proposed Short 

Interest Report may provide helpful 

trading information regarding investor 

sentiment that may allow market 

participants to make more informed 

trading decisions and may be used to 

create and test trading models and 

analytical strategies and provide 

comprehensive insight into trading on 

the Exchange. The proposal is a 

completely voluntary product, in that 

the Exchange is not required by any rule 

or regulation to make this data available 

and that potential subscribers may 

purchase it only if they voluntarily 

choose to do so. 

2. Statutory Basis 

The Exchange believes the proposed 

rule change is consistent with the 

Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the 

‘‘Act’’) and the rules and regulations 

thereunder applicable to the Exchange 

and, in particular, the requirements of 

section 6(b) of the Act.24 Specifically, 

the Exchange believes the proposed rule 

change is consistent with the section 

6(b)(5) 25 requirements that the rules of 

an exchange be 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. 

Additionally, the Exchange believes the 

proposed rule change is consistent with 

the section 6(b)(5) 26 requirement that 

the rules of an exchange not be designed 

to permit unfair discrimination between 

customers, issuers, brokers, or dealers. 

In adopting Regulation NMS, the 

Commission granted self-regulatory 

organizations (‘‘SROs’’) and brokerdealers increased authority and 

flexibility to offer new and unique 

market data to the public. It was 

believed that this authority would 

expand the amount of data available to 

consumers, and also spur innovation 

and competition for the provision of 

market data. The Exchange believes that 

the proposed Short Interest Report, 

which supplies data on short interest 

positions for all BZX-listed securities as 

reported by FINRA, broadens the 

availability of U.S. equity market data to 

investors consistent with the principles 

of Regulation NMS. The proposal also 

promotes transparency through the 

dissemination of short interest data. The 

proposed rule change would benefit 

investors by providing access to the 

Short Interest Report data, which may 

promote better informed trading, as well 

as research and studies of the equities 

industry. Further, data products such as 

the Short Interest Report are a means by 

which exchanges compete to attract 

order flow. To the extent that exchanges 

are successful in such competition, they 

earn trading revenues and also enhance 

the value of their data products by 

increasing the amount of data they 

provide. The need to compete for order 

flow places substantial pressure upon 

exchanges to keep their market data 

offerings competitive. 

Moreover, as noted above, Nasdaq 

offers a Short Interest file which 

provides short interest data that is 

nearly identical to that currently 

proposed by the Exchange.27 The 

proposed Short Interest Report is also 

nearly identical to NYSE’s Short Interest 

file.28 As stated previously, the 

Exchange’s Short Interest Report is 

nearly identical to the NYSE and 

Nasdaq reports in that the Exchange will 

offer identical data fields except that the 

Exchange will not include one field that 

appears within the Nasdaq report (i.e., 

the New Issue Flag) and three fields that 

appear within the NYSE report (i.e., the 

Change in Days to Cover, Free Float and 

Change in Average Daily Volume). As 

noted above, the Exchange’s report will 

include data points provided by FINRA, 

and the foregoing Nasdaq and NYSE 

fields are not included in the FINRAprovided data points. Accordingly, the 

proposed Short Interest Report does not 

provide a unique or novel data offering, 

but rather offers data points consistent 

with other data products already 

available and utilized by market 

participants today. 

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. Rather, the 

Exchange believes that the proposal will 

promote fair competition among the 

national securities exchanges by 

permitting the Exchange to offer a data 

product that provides substantially the 

same data offered by other competitor 

equities exchanges, with the only 

difference, as noted above, being that 

the Exchange’s report not include fields 

outside of those provided by FINRA. 

Additionally, the Exchange believes 

the proposed rule change does not 

impose any burden on intramarket 


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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 248 / Thursday, December 28, 2023 / Notices 89747 

29See supra note 20. 

30See supra note 21. 

31 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A). 

32 17 CFR 240.19b–4(f)(6). 

33 17 CFR 240.19b–4(f)(6). 

34 17 CFR 240.19b–4(f)(6). 35 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12), (59). 

competition that is not necessary or 

appropriate in furtherance of the 

purposes of the Act. The Short Interest 

Report will be available equally to 

Members and non-Members. Market 

participants are not required to 

purchase the Short Interest Report, and 

the Exchange is not required to make 

the Short Interest Report available to 

investors. Rather, the Exchange is 

voluntarily making the Short Interest 

Report available, and market 

participants may choose to receive (and 

pay for) this data based on their own 

business needs. Potential purchasers 

may request the data at any time if they 

believe it to be valuable or may decline 

to purchase such data. Given the above, 

the Exchange does not believe the 

proposed rule change will result in any 

burden on competition that is not 

necessary or appropriate in furtherance 

of the purposes of the Act. 

The Exchange also believes the 

proposed rule change does not impose 

any burden on intermarket competition 

that is not necessary or appropriate in 

furtherance of the purposes of the Act. 

Moreover, as noted above, Nasdaq offers 

a Short Interest file which provides 

short interest data that is nearly 

identical to that currently proposed by 

the Exchange.29 The proposed Short 

Interest Report is also nearly identical to 

NYSE’s Short Interest file.30 As stated 

previously, the Exchange’s Short 

Interest Report is nearly identical to the 

NYSE and Nasdaq reports in that the 

Exchange will offer identical data fields 

except that the Exchange will not 

include one field that appears within 

the Nasdaq report (i.e., the New Issue 

Flag) and three fields that appear within 

the NYSE report (i.e., the Change in 

Days to Cover, Free Float and Change in 

Average Daily Volume). As noted above, 

the Exchange’s report will include data 

points provided by FINRA, and the 

foregoing Nasdaq and NYSE fields are 

not included in the FINRA-provided 

data points. Accordingly, the proposed 

Short Interest Report does not provide a 

unique or novel data offering, but rather 

offers data points consistent with other 

data products already available and 

utilized by market participants today. 

C. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement on Comments on the 

Proposed Rule Change Received From 

Members, Participants, or Others 

The Exchange neither solicited nor 

received comments on the proposed 

rule change. 

III. Date of Effectiveness of the 

Proposed Rule Change and Timing for 

Commission Action 

Because the foregoing 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 31 and Rule 19b– 

4(f)(6) 32 thereunder. 

A proposed rule change filed under 

Rule 19b–4(f)(6) 33 normally does not 

become operative prior to 30 days after 

the date of the filing. However, pursuant 

to Rule 19b–4(f)(6)(iii),34 the 

Commission may designate a shorter 

time of such action is consistent with 

the protection of investor and the public 

interest. The Exchange has asked the 

Commission to waive the 30-day 

operative delay so that the proposed 

rule change may become operative upon 

filing. The Exchange states that waiving 

the operative delay would allow market 

participants to realize immediately the 

benefits of the proposal, which the 

Exchange states includes trading 

information regarding investor 

sentiment that may allow market 

participants to make more informed 

trading decisions. The proposed change 

raises no novel legal or regulatory 

issues. Based on the foregoing, the 

Commission believes that waiving the 

30-day operative delay is consistent 

with the protection of investors and the 

public interest. Therefore, the 

Commission hereby waives the 

operative delay and designates the 

proposal operative upon filing. 

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 (https://www.sec.gov/ 

rules/sro.shtml); or 

• Send an email to rule-comments@

sec.gov. Please include file number SR– 

CboeBZX–2023–102 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–2023–102. 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–CboeBZX–2023–102 and should be 

submitted on or before January 18, 2024. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated 

authority.35

Christina Z. Milnor, 

Assistant Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2023–28610 Filed 12–27–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 


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