```

[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 6 (Monday, January 10, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1203-1216]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-00153]

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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

[Release No. 34-93894; File No. SR-PEARL-2021-58]

Self-Regulatory Organizations; MIAX PEARL, LLC; Notice of Filing 
and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change To Amend the MIAX 
Pearl Options Fee Schedule To Increase the Monthly Fees for MIAX 
Express Network Full Service Port

January 4, 2022.
    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, 2021, MIAX PEARL, LLC (``MIAX Pearl'' or ``Exchange'') 
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (``Commission'') a 
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.
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    \1\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).
    \2\ 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 is filing a proposal to amend the MIAX Pearl Options 
Fee Schedule (the ``Fee Schedule'') to amend the fees for the 
Exchange's MIAX Express Network Full Service (``MEO'') \3\ Ports.
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    \3\ ``MEO Interface'' or ``MEO'' means a binary order interface 
for certain order types as set forth in Rule 516 into the MIAX Pearl 
System. See the Definitions Section of the Fee Schedule and Exchange 
Rule 100.
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    The text of the proposed rule change is available on the Exchange's 
website at http://www.miaxoptions.com/rule-filings/pearl at MIAX 
Pearl's principal office, 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 the Fee Schedule to increase the 
fees for its Full Service MEO Ports, Bulk and Single (the ``Proposed 
Access Fees''), which allow Members \4\ to submit electronic orders in 
all products to the Exchange. The Exchange initially filed this 
proposal on July 1, 2021, with the proposed fee changes being 
immediately effective (``First Proposed Rule Change'').\5\ The First 
Proposed Rule Change was published for comment in the Federal Register 
on July 15, 2021.\6\ The Commission received one comment letter on the 
First Proposed Rule Change \7\ and subsequently suspended the Frist 
Proposed Rule Change on August 27, 2021.\8\ The Exchange withdrew First 
Proposed Rule Change on October 12, 2021 and re-submitted the proposal 
on November 1, 2021, with the proposed fee changes being immediately 
effective (``Second Proposed Rule Change'').\9\ The Second Proposed 
Rule Change provided additional justification for the proposed fee 
changes and addressed certain points raised in the single comment 
letter that was submitted on the First Proposed Rule Change. The Second 
Proposed Rule Change was published for comment in the Federal Register 
on November 17, 2021.\10\ The Commission received no comment letters on 
the Second Proposed Rule Change. Nonetheless, the Exchange withdrew the 
Second Proposed Rule Change on December 20, 2021 and now submits this 
proposal for immediate effectiveness (``Third Proposed Rule Change''). 
This Third Proposed Rule Change meaningfully attempts to provide 
additional justification and

[[Page 1204]]

explanation for the proposed fee changes, directly respond again to the 
points raised in the single comment letter submitted on the First 
Proposed Rule Change, and be responsive to feedback provided by 
Commission Staff during a telephone conversation on November 18, 2021 
relating to the Second Proposed Rule Change.
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    \4\ ``Member'' means an individual or organization that is 
registered with the Exchange pursuant to Chapter II of Exchange 
Rules for purposes of trading on the Exchange as an ``Electronic 
Exchange Member'' or ``Market Maker.'' Members are deemed 
``members'' under the Exchange Act. See the Definitions Section of 
the Fee Schedule and Exchange Rule 100.
    \5\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 92365 (July 9, 
2021), 86 FR 37347 (July 15, 2021) (SR-PEARL-2021-33).
    \6\ See id.
    \7\ See Letter from Richard J. McDonald, Susquehanna 
International Group, LLC (``SIG''), to Vanessa Countryman, 
Secretary, Commission, dated September 7, 2021 (``SIG Letter'').
    \8\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 92798 (August 27, 
2021), 86 FR 49360 (September 2, 2021).
    \9\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 93556 (November 10, 
2021), 86 FR 64235 (November 17, 2021) (SR-PEARL-2021-53).
    \10\ See id.
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Full Service MEO Port Fee Changes
    The Exchange currently offers different types of MEO Ports 
depending on the services required by the Member, including a Full 
Service MEO Port-Bulk,\11\ a Full Service MEO Port-Single,\12\ and a 
Limited Service MEO Port.\13\ For one monthly price, a Member may be 
allocated two (2) Full-Service MEO Ports of either type per matching 
engine \14\ and may request Limited Service MEO Ports for which MIAX 
Pearl will assess Members Limited Service MEO Port fees per matching 
engine based on a sliding scale for the number of Limited Service MEO 
Ports utilized each month. The two (2) Full-Service MEO Ports that may 
be allocated per matching engine to a Member may consist of: (a) Two 
(2) Full Service MEO Ports--Bulk; (b) two (2) Full Service MEO Ports--
Single; or (c) one (1) Full Service MEO Port--Bulk and one (1) Full 
Service MEO Port--Single.
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    \11\ ``Full Service MEO Port--Bulk'' means an MEO port that 
supports all MEO input message types and binary bulk order entry. 
See the Definitions Section of the Fee Schedule.
    \12\ ``Full Service MEO Port--Single'' means an MEO port that 
supports all MEO input message types and binary order entry on a 
single order-by-order basis, but not bulk orders. See the 
Definitions Section of the Fee Schedule.
    \13\ ``Limited Service MEO Port'' means an MEO port that 
supports all MEO input message types, but does not support bulk 
order entry and only supports limited order types, as specified by 
the Exchange via Regulatory Circular. See the Definitions Section of 
the Fee Schedule.
    \14\ A ``Matching Engine'' is a part of the MIAX Pearl 
electronic system that processes options orders and trades on a 
symbol-by-symbol basis. Some Matching Engines will process option 
classes with multiple root symbols, and other Matching Engines may 
be dedicated to one single option root symbol. A particular root 
symbol may only be assigned to a single designated Matching Engine. 
A particular root symbol may not be assigned to multiple Matching 
Engines. See the Definitions Section of the Fee Schedule.
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    Unlike other options exchanges that provide similar port 
functionality and charge fees on a per port basis,\15\ the Exchange 
offers Full Service MEO Ports as a package and provides Members with 
the option to receive up to two Full Service MEO Ports (described 
above) per matching engine to which that Member connects. The Exchange 
currently has twelve (12) matching engines, which means Members may 
receive up to twenty-four (24) Full Service MEO Ports for a single 
monthly fee, that can vary based on certain volume percentages, as 
described below. For illustrative purposes and as described in more 
detail below, the Exchange currently assesses a fee of $5,000 per month 
for Members that reach the highest Full Service MEO Port--Bulk Tier, 
regardless of the number of Full Service MEO Ports allocated to the 
Member. For example, assuming a Member connects to all twelve (12) 
matching engines during a month, with two Full Service MEO Ports per 
matching engine, this results in a cost of $208.33 per Full Service MEO 
Port ($5,000 divided by 24) for the month. This fee has been unchanged 
since the Exchange adopted Full Service MEO Port fees in 2018.\16\ The 
Exchange now proposes to increase Full Service MEO Port fees as further 
described below, with the highest monthly fee of $10,000 for the Full 
Service MEO Port--Bulk. Members will continue to receive two (2) Full 
Service MEO Ports to each matching engine to which they connect for the 
single flat monthly fee. Assuming a Member connects to all twelve (12) 
matching engines during the month, with two Full Service MEO Ports per 
matching engine, this would result in a cost of $416.67 per Full 
Service MEO Port ($10,000 divided by 24).
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    \15\ See NYSE American Options Fee Schedule, Section V.A., Port 
Fees (each port charged on a per matching engine basis, with NYSE 
American having 17 match engines). See NYSE Technology FAQ and Best 
Practices: Options, Section 5.1 (How many matching engines are used 
by each exchange?) (September 2020) (providing a link to an Excel 
file detailing the number of matching engines per options exchange); 
NYSE Arca Options Fee Schedule, Port Fees (each port charged on a 
per matching engine basis, NYSE Arca having 19 match engines); and 
NYSE Technology FAQ and Best Practices: Options, Section 5.1 (How 
many matching engines are used by each exchange?) (September 2020) 
(providing a link to an Excel file detailing the number of matching 
engines per options exchange). See NASDAQ Fee Schedule, Nasdaq 
Options 7 Pricing Schedule, Section 3, Nasdaq Options Market--Ports 
and Other Services (each port charged on a per matching engine 
basis, with Nasdaq having multiple matching engines). See Nasdaq 
Specialized Quote Interface (SQF) Specification, Version 6.5b 
(updated February 13, 2020), Section 2, Architecture, available at 
https://www.nasdaq.com/docs/2020/02/18/Specialized-Quote-Interface-SQI-6.5b.pdf (the ``NASDAQ SQF Interface Specification''). The 
NASDAQ SQF Interface Specification also provides that NASDAQ's 
affiliates, Nasdaq PHLX LLC (``Nasdaq Phlx'') and Nasdaq BX, Inc. 
(``Nasdaq BX''), have trading infrastructures that may consist of 
multiple matching engines with each matching engine trading only a 
range of option underlyings. Further, the NASDAQ SQF Interface 
Specification provides that the SQF infrastructure is such that the 
firms connect to one or more servers residing directly on the 
matching engine infrastructure. Since there may be multiple matching 
engines, firms will need to connect to each engine's infrastructure 
in order to establish the ability to quote the symbols handled by 
that engine.
    \16\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 82867 (March 13, 
2018), 83 FR 12044 (March 19, 2018) (SR-PEARL-2018-07).
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    The Exchange assesses Members Full Service MEO Port Fees, either 
for a Full Service MEO Port--Bulk and/or for a Full Service MEO Port--
Single, based upon the monthly total volume executed by a Member and 
its Affiliates \17\ on the Exchange across all origin types, not 
including Excluded Contracts,\18\ as compared to the Total Consolidated 
Volume (``TCV''),\19\ in all MIAX Pearl-listed options. The Exchange 
adopted a tier-based fee structure based upon the volume-based tiers 
detailed in the definition of ``Non-Transaction Fees Volume-Based 
Tiers'' described in the Definitions section of the Fee Schedule. The 
Exchange assesses these and other monthly Port fees on Members in each 
month the market participant is credentialed to use a Port in the 
production environment.
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    \17\ ``Affiliate'' means (i) an affiliate of a Member of at 
least 75% common ownership between the firms as reflected on each 
firm's Form BD, Schedule A, or (ii) the Appointed Market Maker of an 
Appointed EEM (or, conversely, the Appointed EEM of an Appointed 
Market Maker). An ``Appointed Market Maker'' is a MIAX Pearl Market 
Maker (who does not otherwise have a corporate affiliation based 
upon common ownership with an EEM) that has been appointed by an EEM 
and an ``Appointed EEM'' is an EEM (who does not otherwise have a 
corporate affiliation based upon common ownership with a MIAX Pearl 
Market Maker) that has been appointed by a MIAX Pearl Market Maker, 
pursuant to the following process. A MIAX Pearl Market Maker 
appoints an EEM and an EEM appoints a MIAX Pearl Market Maker, for 
the purposes of the Fee Schedule, by each completing and sending an 
executed Volume Aggregation Request Form by email to 
[email protected] no later than 2 business days prior to 
the first business day of the month in which the designation is to 
become effective. Transmittal of a validly completed and executed 
form to the Exchange along with the Exchange's acknowledgement of 
the effective designation to each of the Market Maker and EEM will 
be viewed as acceptance of the appointment. The Exchange will only 
recognize one designation per Member. A Member may make a 
designation not more than once every 12 months (from the date of its 
most recent designation), which designation shall remain in effect 
unless or until the Exchange receives written notice submitted 2 
business days prior to the first business day of the month from 
either Member indicating that the appointment has been terminated. 
Designations will become operative on the first business day of the 
effective month and may not be terminated prior to the end of the 
month. Execution data and reports will be provided to both parties. 
See the Definitions Section of the Fee Schedule.
    \18\ ``Excluded Contracts'' means any contracts routed to an 
away market for execution. See the Definitions Section of the Fee 
Schedule.
    \19\ ``TCV'' means total consolidated volume calculated as the 
total national volume in those classes listed on MIAX Pearl for the 
month for which the fees apply, excluding consolidated volume 
executed during the period of time in which the Exchange experiences 
an Exchange System Disruption (solely in the option classes of the 
affected Matching Engine). See the Definitions Section of the Fee 
Schedule.
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    Current Full Service MEO Port--Bulk Fees. Currently, the Exchange 
assesses

[[Page 1205]]

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Members monthly Full Service MEO Port--Bulk fees as follows:

    (i) If its volume falls within the parameters of Tier 1 of the 
Non-Transaction Fees Volume-Based Tiers, or volume up to 0.30%, 
$3,000;
    (ii) if its volume falls within the parameters of Tier 2 of the 
Non-Transaction Fees Volume-Based Tiers, or volume above 0.30% up to 
0.60%, $4,500; and
    (iii) if its volume falls with the parameters of Tier 3 of the 
Non-Transaction Fees Volume-Based Tiers, or volume above 0.60%, 
$5,000.

    Proposed Full Service MEO Port--Bulk Fees. The Exchange now 
proposes to assess Members monthly Full Service MEO Port--Bulk fees as 
follows:

    (i) If its volume falls within the parameters of Tier 1 of the 
Non-Transaction Fees Volume-Based Tiers, or volume up to 0.30%, 
$5,000;
    (ii) if its volume falls within the parameters of Tier 2 of the 
Non-Transaction Fees Volume-Based Tiers, or volume above 0.30% up to 
0.60%, $7,500; and
    (iii) if its volume falls with the parameters of Tier 3 of the 
Non-Transaction Fees Volume-Based Tiers, or volume above 0.60%, 
$10,000.

    Current Full Service MEO Port--Single Fees. Currently, the Exchange 
assesses Members monthly Full Service MEO Port--Single fees as follows:

    (i) If its volume falls within the parameters of Tier 1 of the 
Non-Transaction Fees Volume-Based Tiers, or volume up to 0.30%, 
$2,000;
    (ii) if its volume falls within the parameters of Tier 2 of the 
Non-Transaction Fees Volume-Based Tiers, or volume above 0.30% up to 
0.60%, $3,375; and
    (iii) if its volume falls with the parameters of Tier 3 of the 
Non-Transaction Fees Volume-Based Tiers, or volume above 0.60%, 
$3,750.

    Proposed Full Service MEO Port--Single Fees. The Exchange now 
proposes to assess Members monthly Full Service MEO Port--Single fees 
as follows:

    (i) If its volume falls within the parameters of Tier 1 of the 
Non-Transaction Fees Volume-Based Tiers, or volume up to 0.30%, 
$2,500;
    (ii) if its volume falls within the parameters of Tier 2 of the 
Non-Transaction Fees Volume-Based Tiers, or volume above 0.30% up to 
0.60%, $3,500; and
    (iii) if its volume falls with the parameters of Tier 3 of the 
Non-Transaction Fees Volume-Based Tiers, or volume above 0.60%, 
$4,500.

    The Exchange offers various types of ports with differing prices 
because each port accomplishes different tasks, are suited to different 
types of Members, and consume varying capacity amounts of the network. 
For instance, MEO ports allow for a higher throughput and can handle 
much higher quote/order rates than FIX ports. Members that are Market 
Makers \20\ or high frequency trading firms utilize these ports 
(typically coupled with 10Gb ULL connectivity) because they transact in 
significantly higher amounts of messages being sent to and from the 
Exchange, versus FIX port users, who are traditionally customers 
sending only orders to the Exchange (typically coupled with 1Gb 
connectivity). The different types of ports cater to the different 
types of Exchange Memberships and different capabilities of the various 
Exchange Members. Certain Members need ports and connections that can 
handle using far more of the network's capacity for message throughput, 
risk protections, and the amount of information that the System has to 
assess. Those Members may account for the vast majority of network 
capacity utilization and volume executed on the Exchange, as discussed 
throughout.
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    \20\ The term ``Market Maker'' means a Member registered with 
the Exchange for the purpose of making markets in options contracts 
traded on the Exchange and that is vested with the rights and 
responsibilities specified in Chapter VI of Exchange Rules. See the 
Definitions Section of the Fee Schedule and Exchange Rule 100.
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    The Exchange now proposes to increase its monthly Full Service MEO 
Port fees since it has not done so since the fees were adopted in 
2018,\21\ which are designed to recover a portion of the costs 
associated with directly accessing the Exchange. The Exchange notes 
that its affiliates, Miami International Securities Exchange, LLC 
(``MIAX'') and MIAX Emerald, LLC (``MIAX Emerald''), charge fees for 
their high throughput, low latency MIAX Express Interface (``MEI'') 
Ports in a similar fashion as the Exchange charges for its MEO Ports--
generally, the more active user the Member (i.e., the greater number/
greater national ADV of classes assigned to quote on MIAX and MIAX 
Emerald), the higher the MEI Port fee.\22\ This concept is not new or 
novel. The Exchange also notes that the proposed increased fees for the 
Exchange's Full Service MEO Ports are in line with, or cheaper than, 
the similar port fees for similar membership fees charged by other 
options exchanges.\23\
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    \21\ See supra note 16.
    \22\ See MIAX Fee Schedule, Section 5)d)ii); MIAX Emerald Fee 
Schedule, Section 5)d)ii).
    \23\ See NYSE American Options Fee Schedule, Section V.A., Port 
Fees; NYSE Arca Options Fee Schedule, Port Fees; Nasdaq Stock Market 
LLC (``NASDAQ''), Options 7, Pricing Schedule, Section 3.
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    The Exchange has historically undercharged for Full Service MEO 
Ports as compared to other options exchanges \24\ because the Exchange 
provides Full Service MEO Ports as a package for a single monthly fee. 
As described above, this package includes two Full Service MEO Ports 
for each of the Exchange's twelve (12) matching engines. The Exchange 
understands other options exchanges charge fees on a per port basis. 
The Exchange believes other exchange's port fees are a useful example 
of alternative approaches to providing and charging for port access and 
provides the below table for comparison purposes only to show how its 
proposed fees compare to fees currently charged by other options 
exchanges for similar port access.
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    \24\ See id.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
          Exchange                Type of port           Monthly fee
------------------------------------------------------------------------
MIAX Pearl (as proposed)....  MEO Full Service--    Tier 1: $5,000 (or
                               Bulk.                 $208.33 per
                                                     Matching Engine).
                                                    Tier 2: $7,500 (or
                                                     $312.50 per
                                                     Matching Engine).
                                                    Tier 3: $10,000 (or
                                                     $416.66 per
                                                     Matching Engine).
                              MEO Full Service--    Tier 1: $2,500 (or
                               Single.               $104.16 per
                                                     Matching Engine).
                                                    Tier 2: $3,500 (or
                                                     $145.83 per
                                                     Matching Engine).
                                                    Tier 3: $4,500 (or
                                                     $187.50 per
                                                     Matching Engine).
NYSE American, LLC (``NYSE    Order/Quote Entry...  Ports 1-40: $450
 American'') \25\.                                   each.
                                                    Ports 41 or more:
                                                     $150 each.
NYSE Arca, Inc. (``NYSE       Order/Quote Entry...  Ports 1-40: $450
 Arca'') \26\.                                       each.
                                                    Ports 41 or more:
                                                     $150 each.
NASDAQ \27\.................  Specialized Quote     Ports 1-5: $1,500
                               Interface.            each.
                                                    Ports 6-20: $1,000
                                                     each.

[[Page 1206]]

 
                                                    Ports 21 or more:
                                                     $500.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Implementation
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    \25\ See id.
    \26\ See id.
    \27\ See id.
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    The proposed fees are immediately effective.
2. Statutory Basis
    The Exchange believes that its proposal to amend its Fee Schedule 
is consistent with Section 6(b) of the Act \28\ in general, and 
furthers the objectives of Section 6(b)(4) of the Act \29\ in 
particular, in that it is an equitable allocation of reasonable dues, 
fees and other charges among its members and issuers and other persons 
using its facilities. The Exchange also believes the proposal furthers 
the objectives of Section 6(b)(5) of the Act in that it is designed to 
promote just and equitable principles of trade, 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 and is not designed to permit unfair discrimination between 
customers, issuers, brokers and dealers.
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    \28\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b).
    \29\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(4) and (5).
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    On March 29, 2019, the Commission issued its Order Disapproving 
Proposed Rule Changes to Amend the Fee Schedule on the BOX Market LLC 
Options Facility to Establish BOX Connectivity Fees for Participants 
and Non-Participants Who Connect to the BOX Network (the ``BOX 
Order'').\30\ On May 21, 2019, the Commission issued the Staff Guidance 
on SRO Rule Filings Relating to Fees.\31\ Accordingly, the Exchange 
believes that the Proposed Access Fees are consistent with the Act 
because they (i) are reasonable, equitably allocated, not unfairly 
discriminatory, and not an undue burden on competition; (ii) comply 
with the BOX Order and the Guidance; (iii) are supported by evidence 
(including comprehensive revenue and cost data and analysis) that they 
are fair and reasonable because they will not result in excessive 
pricing or supra-competitive profit; and (iv) utilize a cost-based 
justification framework that is substantially similar to a framework 
previously used by the Exchange and its affiliates, MIAX and MIAX 
Emerald, to establish or increase other non-transaction fees. 
Accordingly, the Exchange believes that the Commission should find that 
the Proposed Access Fees are consistent with the Act.
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    \30\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 85459 (March 29, 
2019), 84 FR 13363 (April 4, 2019) (SR-BOX-2018-24, SR-BOX-2018-37, 
and SR-BOX-2019-04).
    \31\ See Staff Guidance on SRO Rule Filings Relating to Fees 
(May 21, 2019), at https://www.sec.gov/tm/staff-guidance-sro-rule-filings-fees (the ``Guidance'').
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The Proposed Access Fees Will Not Result in a Supra-Competitive Profit
    The Exchange believes that exchanges, in setting fees of all types, 
should meet very high standards of transparency to demonstrate why each 
new fee or fee increase meets the requirements of the Act that fees are 
reasonable, equitably allocated, not unfairly discriminatory, and not 
create an undue burden on competition among market participants. The 
Exchange believes this high standard is especially important when an 
exchange imposes various access fees for market participants to access 
an exchange's marketplace. The Exchange deems the Full Service MEO Port 
fees to be access fees. It records these fees as part of its ``Access 
Fees'' revenue in its financial statements.
    In its Guidance, the Commission Staff stated that, ``[a]s an 
initial step in assessing the reasonableness of a fee, staff considers 
whether the fee is constrained by significant competitive forces.'' 
\32\ The Commission Staff Guidance further states that, ``. . . even 
where an SRO cannot demonstrate, or does not assert, that significant 
competitive forces constrain the fee at issue, a cost-based discussion 
may be an alternative basis upon which to show consistency with the 
Exchange Act.'' \33\ In its Guidance, the Commission staff further 
states that, ``[i]f an SRO seeks to support its claims that a proposed 
fee is fair and reasonable because it will permit recovery of the SRO's 
costs, or will not result in excessive pricing or supracompetitive 
profit, specific information, including quantitative information, 
should be provided to support that argument.'' \34\ The Exchange does 
not assert that the Proposed Access Fees are constrained by competitive 
forces. Rather, the Exchange asserts that the Proposed Access Fees are 
reasonable because they will permit recovery of the Exchange's costs in 
providing access via Full Service MEO Ports and will not result in the 
Exchange generating a supra-competitive profit.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \32\ See id.
    \33\ Id.
    \34\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Guidance defines ``supra-competitive profit'' as ``profits that 
exceed the profits that can be obtained in a competitive market.'' \35\ 
The Commission Staff further states in the Guidance that ``the SRO 
should provide an analysis of the SRO's baseline revenues, costs, and 
profitability (before the proposed fee change) and the SRO's expected 
revenues, costs, and profitability (following the proposed fee change) 
for the product or service in question.'' \36\ The Exchange provides 
this analysis below.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \35\ Id.
    \36\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Based on this analysis, the Exchange believes the Proposed Access 
Fees are reasonable and do not result in a ``supra-competitive'' \37\ 
profit. The Exchange believes that it is important to demonstrate that 
these fees are based on its costs and reasonable business needs. The 
Exchange believes the Proposed Access Fees will allow the Exchange to 
offset expense the Exchange has and will incur, and that the Exchange 
is providing sufficient transparency (as described below) into how the 
Exchange determined to charge such fees. Accordingly, the Exchange is 
providing an analysis of its revenues, costs, and profitability 
associated with the Proposed Access Fees. This analysis includes 
information regarding its methodology for determining the costs and 
revenues associated with the Proposed Access Fees. As a result of this 
analysis, the Exchange believes the Proposed Access Fees are fair and 
reasonable as a form of cost recovery plus present the possibility of a 
reasonable return for the Exchange's aggregate costs of offering Full 
Service MEO Port access to the Exchange.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \37\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Proposed Access Fees are based on a cost-plus model. In 
determining the appropriate fees to charge, the Exchange considered its 
costs to provide Full Service MEO Ports, using what it believes to be a 
conservative methodology (i.e., that strictly considers only those 
costs that are most clearly directly related to the provision and 
maintenance of Full Service MEO Ports) to estimate such costs,\38\ as 
well as the

[[Page 1207]]

relative costs of providing and maintaining Full Service MEO Ports, and 
set fees that are designed to cover its costs with a limited return in 
excess of such costs. However, as discussed more fully below, such fees 
may also result in the Exchange recouping less than all of its costs of 
providing and maintaining Full Service MEO Ports because of the 
uncertainty of forecasting subscriber decision making with respect to 
firms' port needs and the likely potential for increased costs to 
procure the third-party services described below.
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    \38\ For example, the Exchange only included the costs 
associated with providing and supporting Full Service MEO Ports and 
excluded from its cost calculations any cost not directly associated 
with providing and maintaining such ports. Thus, the Exchange notes 
that this methodology underestimates the total costs of providing 
and maintaining Full Service MEO Port access.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    To determine the Exchange's costs to provide the access services 
associated with the Proposed Access Fees, the Exchange conducted an 
extensive cost review in which the Exchange analyzed nearly every 
expense item in the Exchange's general expense ledger to determine 
whether each such expense relates to the Proposed Access Fees, and, if 
such expense did so relate, what portion (or percentage) of such 
expense actually supports the access services. The sum of all such 
portions of expenses represents the total cost of the Exchange to 
provide the access services associated with the Proposed Access Fees.
    The Exchange also provides detailed information regarding the 
Exchange's cost allocation methodology--namely, information that 
explains the Exchange's rationale for determining that it was 
reasonable to allocate certain expenses described in this filing 
towards the cost to the Exchange to provide the access services 
associated with the Proposed Access Fees. The Exchange conducted a 
thorough internal analysis to determine the portion (or percentage) of 
each expense to allocate to the support of access services associated 
with the Proposed Access Fees. This analysis included discussions with 
each Exchange department head to determine the expenses that support 
access services associated with the Proposed Access Fees. Once the 
expenses were identified, the Exchange department heads, with the 
assistance of the Exchange's internal finance department, reviewed such 
expenses holistically on an Exchange-wide level to determine what 
portion of that expense supports providing access services for the 
Proposed Access Fees. The sum of all such portions of expenses 
represents the total cost to the Exchange to provide access services 
associated with the Proposed Access Fees. For the avoidance of doubt, 
no expense amount was allocated twice.
    To determine the Exchange's projected revenues associated with the 
Proposed Access Fees, the Exchange analyzed the number of Members 
currently utilizing Full Service MEO Ports, and, utilizing a recent 
monthly billing cycle representative of 2021 monthly revenue, 
extrapolated annualized revenue on a going-forward basis. The Exchange 
does not believe it is appropriate to factor into its analysis future 
revenue growth or decline into its projections for purposes of these 
calculations, given the uncertainty of such projections due to the 
continually changing access needs of market participants, discounts 
that can be achieved due to lower trading volume and vice versa, market 
participant consolidation, etc. Additionally, the Exchange similarly 
does not factor into its analysis future cost growth or decline. The 
Exchange is presenting its revenue and expense associated with the 
Proposed Access Fees in this filing in a manner that is consistent with 
how the Exchange presents its revenue and expense in its Audited 
Unconsolidated Financial Statements. The Exchange's most recent Audited 
Unconsolidated Financial Statement is for 2020. However, since the 
revenue and expense associated with the Proposed Access Fees were not 
in place in 2020 or for the majority of 2021 (other than July and 
August 2021), the Exchange believes its 2020 Audited Unconsolidated 
Financial Statement is not representative of its current total 
annualized revenue and costs associated with the Proposed Access Fees. 
Accordingly, the Exchange believes it is more appropriate to analyze 
the Proposed Access Fees utilizing its 2021 revenue and costs, as 
described herein, which utilize the same presentation methodology as 
set forth in the Exchange's previously-issued Audited Unconsolidated 
Financial Statements. Based on this analysis, the Exchange believes 
that the Proposed Access Fees are fair and reasonable because they will 
not result in excessive pricing or supra-competitive profit when 
comparing the Exchange's total annual expense associated with providing 
the services associated with the Proposed Access Fees versus the total 
projected annual revenue the Exchange will collect for providing those 
services. The Exchange notes that this is the same justification 
process utilized by the Exchange's affiliate, MIAX Emerald, in a filing 
recently noticed and not suspended by the Commission when MIAX Emerald 
adopted MEI Port fees.\39\ As outlined in more detail below, the 
Exchange projects that the annualized expense for 2021 to provide Full 
Service MEO Ports to be approximately $897,084 per annum or an average 
of $74,757 per month. The Exchange implemented the Proposed Access Fees 
on July 1, 2021 in the First Proposed Rule Change. For June 2021, prior 
to the Proposed Access Fees, Members and non-Members purchased a total 
of 20 Full Service MEO Ports, for which the Exchange charged a total of 
approximately $71,625. This resulted in a loss of $3,132 for that month 
(a margin of -4.37%). For the month of November 2021, which includes 
the Proposed Access Fees, Members and non-Members purchased a total of 
19 Full Service MEO Ports,\40\ for which the Exchange charged a total 
of approximately $122,000 for that month. This resulted in a profit of 
$47,243 for that month, representing a profit margin of approximately 
38%. The Exchange believes that the Proposed Access Fees are reasonable 
because they are designed to approximately generate a modest profit 
margin of 38% per-month.\41\ The Exchange cautions that this profit 
margin may fluctuate from month to month based on the uncertainty of 
predicting how many Full Service MEO Ports may be purchased from month 
to month as Members and non-Members are able to add and drop ports at 
any time based on their own business decisions, which they frequently 
do. This profit margin may also decrease due to the significant 
inflationary pressure on capital items that the Exchange needs to 
purchase to maintain the Exchange's technology and systems.\42\
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    \39\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 91460 (April 2, 
2021), 86 FR 18349 (April 8, 2021) (SR-EMERALD-2021-11) (Notice of 
Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change To 
Amend Its Fee Schedule To Adopt Port Fees, Increase Certain Network 
Connectivity Fees, and Increase the Number of Additional Limited 
Service MIAX Emerald Express Interface Ports Available to Market 
Makers) (adopting tiered MEI Port fee structure ranging from $5,000 
to $20,500 per month).
    \40\ The Exchange notes that one Member dropped one Full Service 
MEO Port--Bulk between June 2021 and November 2021, as a result of 
the Proposed Access Fees.
    \41\ The Exchange notes that this profit margin differs from the 
First and Second Proposed Rule Changes because the Exchange now has 
the benefit of using a more recent billing cycle under the Proposed 
Access Fees (November 2021) and comparing it to a baseline month 
(June 2021) from before the Proposed Access Fees were in effect.
    \42\ See ``Supply chain chaos is already hitting global growth. 
And it's about to get worse'', by Holly Ellyatt, CNBC, available at 
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/18/supply-chain-chaos-is-hitting-global-growth-and-could-get-worse.html (October 18, 2021); and 
``There will be things that people can't get, at Christmas, White 
House warns'' by Jarrett Renshaw and Trevor Hunnicutt, Reuters, 
available at https://www.reuters.com/world/us/americans-may-not-get-some-christmas-treats-white-house-officials-warn-2021-10-12/ 
(October 12, 2021).

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[[Page 1208]]

    The Exchange has been subject to price increases upwards of 30% on 
network equipment due to supply chain shortages. This, in turn, results 
in higher overall costs for ongoing system maintenance, but also to 
purchase the items necessary to ensure ongoing system resiliency, 
performance, and determinism. These costs are expected to continue to 
go up as the U.S. economy continues to struggle with supply chain and 
inflation related issues.
    As mentioned above, the Exchange projects that the annualized 
expense for 2021 to provide the services associated with the Proposed 
Access Fees to be approximately $897,084 per annum or an average of 
$74,757 per month and that these costs are expected to increase not 
only due to anticipated significant inflationary pressure, but also 
periodic fee increases by third parties.\43\ The Exchange notes that 
there are material costs associated with providing the infrastructure 
and headcount to fully-support access to the Exchange. The Exchange 
incurs technology expense related to establishing and maintaining 
Information Security services, enhanced network monitoring and customer 
reporting, as well as Regulation SCI mandated processes, associated 
with its network technology. While some of the expense is fixed, much 
of the expense is not fixed, and thus increases the cost to the 
Exchange to provide access services associated with the Proposed Access 
Fees. For example, new Members to the Exchange may require the purchase 
of additional hardware to support those Members as well as enhanced 
monitoring and reporting of customer performance that the Exchange and 
its affiliates provide. Further, as the total number of Members 
increases, the Exchange and its affiliates may need to increase their 
data center footprint and consume more power, resulting in increased 
costs charged by their third-party data center provider. Accordingly, 
the cost to the Exchange and its affiliates to provide access to its 
Members is not fixed. The Exchange believes the Proposed Access Fees 
are a reasonable attempt to offset a portion of the costs to the 
Exchange associated with providing access to its network 
infrastructure.
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    \43\ For example, on October 20, 2021, ICE Data Services 
announced a 3.5% price increase effective January 1, 2022 for most 
services. The price increase by ICE Data Services includes their 
SFTI network, which is relied on by a majority of market 
participants, including the Exchange. See email from ICE Data 
Services to the Exchange, dated October 20, 2021. The Exchange 
further notes that on October 22, 2019, the Exchange was notified by 
ICE Data Services that it was raising its fees charged to the 
Exchange by approximately 11% for the SFTI network.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Exchange only has four primary sources of revenue and cost 
recovery mechanisms: Transaction fees, access fees (which includes the 
Proposed Access Fees), regulatory fees, and market data fees. 
Accordingly, the Exchange must cover all of its expenses from these 
four primary sources of revenue and cost recovery mechanisms. Until 
recently, the Exchange has operated at a cumulative net annual loss 
since it launched operations in 2017.\44\ This is a result of providing 
a low cost alternative to attract order flow and encourage market 
participants to experience the high determinism and resiliency of the 
Exchange's trading Systems.\45\ To do so, the Exchange chose to waive 
the fees for some non-transaction related services or provide them at a 
very marginal cost, which was not profitable to the Exchange. This 
resulted in the Exchange forgoing revenue it could have generated from 
assessing higher fees.
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    \44\ The Exchange has incurred a cumulative loss of $86 million 
since its inception in 2017 to 2020, the last year for which the 
Exchange's Form 1 data is available. See Exchange's Form 1/A, 
Application for Registration or Exemption from Registration as a 
National Securities Exchange, filed July 28, 2021, available at 
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/vprr/2100/21000461.pdf.
    \45\ The term ``System'' means the automated trading system used 
by the Exchange for the trading of securities. See Exchange Rule 
100.
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    The Exchange believes that the Proposed Access Fees are fair and 
reasonable because they will not result in excessive pricing or supra-
competitive profit, when comparing the total annual expense that the 
Exchange projects to incur in connection with providing these access 
services versus the total annual revenue that the Exchange projects to 
collect in connection with services associated with the Proposed Access 
Fees. For 2021,\46\ the total annual expense for providing the access 
services associated with the Proposed Access Fees for the Exchange is 
projected to be approximately $897,084, or approximately $74,757 per 
month. The $897,084 in projected total annual expense is comprised of 
the following, all of which are directly related to the access services 
associated with the Proposed Access Fees: (1) Third-party expense, 
relating to fees paid by the Exchange to third-parties for certain 
products and services; and (2) internal expense, relating to the 
internal costs of the Exchange to provide the services associated with 
the Proposed Access Fees.\47\ As noted above, the Exchange believes it 
is more appropriate to analyze the Proposed Access Fees utilizing its 
2021 revenue and costs, which utilize the same presentation methodology 
as set forth in the Exchange's previously-issued Audited Unconsolidated 
Financial Statements.\48\ The $897,084 in projected total annual 
expense is directly related to the access services associated with the 
Proposed Access Fees, and not any other product or service offered by 
the Exchange. It does not include general costs of operating matching 
systems and other trading technology, and no expense amount was 
allocated twice.
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    \46\ The Exchange has not yet finalized its 2021 year end 
results.
    \47\ The percentage allocations used in this proposed rule 
change may differ from past filings from the Exchange or its 
affiliates due to, among other things, changes in expenses charged 
by third-parties, adjustments to internal resource allocations, and 
different system architecture of the Exchange as compared to its 
affiliates.
    \48\ For example, the Exchange previously noted that all third-
party expense described in its prior fee filing was contained in the 
information technology and communication costs line item under the 
section titled ``Operating Expenses Incurred Directly or Allocated 
From Parent,'' in the Exchange's 2019 Form 1 Amendment containing 
its financial statements for 2018. See Securities Exchange Act 
Release No. 87876 (December 31, 2019), 85 FR 757 (January 7, 2020) 
(SR-PEARL-2019-36). Accordingly, the third-party expense described 
in this filing is attributed to the same line item for the 
Exchange's 2021 Form 1 Amendment, which will be filed in 2022.
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    As discussed, the Exchange conducted an extensive cost review in 
which the Exchange analyzed nearly every expense item in the Exchange's 
general expense ledger (this includes over 150 separate and distinct 
expense items) to determine whether each such expense relates to the 
access services associated with the Proposed Access Fees, and, if such 
expense did so relate, what portion (or percentage) of such expense 
actually supports those services, and thus bears a relationship that 
is, ``in nature and closeness,'' directly related to those services. 
The sum of all such portions of expenses represents the total cost of 
the Exchange to provide access services associated with the Proposed 
Access Fees.
External Expense Allocations
    For 2021, total third-party expense, relating to fees paid by the 
Exchange to third-parties for certain products and services for the 
Exchange to be able to provide the access services associated with the 
Proposed Access Fees, is projected to be $40,166. This includes, but is 
not limited to, a portion of the fees paid to: (1) Equinix, for data 
center

[[Page 1209]]

services, for the primary, secondary, and disaster recovery locations 
of the Exchange's trading system infrastructure; (2) Zayo Group 
Holdings, Inc. (``Zayo'') for network services (fiber and bandwidth 
products and services) linking the Exchange's office locations in 
Princeton, New Jersey and Miami, Florida, to all data center locations; 
(3) Secure Financial Transaction Infrastructure (``SFTI''),\49\ which 
supports connectivity and feeds for the entire U.S. options industry; 
(4) various other services providers (including Thompson Reuters, NYSE, 
NASDAQ, and Internap), which provide content, connectivity services, 
and infrastructure services for critical components of options 
connectivity and network services; and (5) various other hardware and 
software providers (including Dell and Cisco, which support the 
production environment in which Members connect to the network to 
trade, receive market data, etc.).
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    \49\ In fact, on October 20, 2021, ICE Data Services announced a 
3.5% price increase effective January 1, 2022 for most services. The 
price increase by ICE Data Services includes their SFTI network, 
which is relied on by a majority of market participants, including 
the Exchange. See email from ICE Data Services to the Exchange, 
dated October 20, 2021. This fee increase by ICE data services, 
while not subject to Commission review, has material impact on cost 
to exchanges and other market participants that provide downstream 
access to other market participants. The Exchange notes that on 
October 22, 2019, the Exchange was notified by ICE Data Services 
that it was raising its fees charged to the Exchange by 
approximately 11% for the SFTI network, without having to show that 
such fee change complies with the Act by being reasonable, equitably 
allocated, and not unfairly discriminatory. It is unfathomable to 
the Exchange that, given the critical nature of the infrastructure 
services provided by SFTI, that its fees are not required to be 
rule-filed with the Commission pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the 
Act and Rule 19b-4 thereunder. See 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1) and 17 CFR 
240.19b-4, respectively.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    For clarity, the Exchange took a conservative approach in 
determining the expense and the percentage of that expense to be 
allocated to the providing access services in connection with the 
Proposed Access Fees. Only a portion of all fees paid to such third-
parties is included in the third-party expense herein, and no expense 
amount is allocated twice. Accordingly, the Exchange does not allocate 
its entire information technology and communication costs to the access 
services associated with the Proposed Access Fees. This may result in 
the Exchange under allocating an expense to the provision of access 
services in connection with the Proposed Access Fees and such expenses 
may actually be higher or increase above what the Exchange utilizes 
within this proposal. Further, the Exchange notes that, with respect to 
the MIAX Pearl expenses included herein, those expenses only cover the 
MIAX Pearl options market; expenses associated with the MIAX Pearl 
equities market are accounted for separately and are not included 
within the scope of this filing. As noted above, the percentage 
allocations used in this proposed rule change may differ from past 
filings from the Exchange or its affiliates due to, among other things, 
changes in expenses charged by third-parties, adjustments to internal 
resource allocations, and different system architecture of the Exchange 
as compared to its affiliates. Further, as part its ongoing assessment 
of costs and expenses, the Exchange recently conducted a periodic 
thorough review of its expenses and resource allocations which, in 
turn, resulted in a revised percentage allocations in this filing. 
Therefore, the percentage allocations used in this proposed rule change 
may differ from past filings from the Exchange or its affiliates due 
to, among other things, changes in expenses charged by third-parties, 
adjustments to internal resource allocations, and different system 
architecture of the Exchange as compared to its affiliates.
    The Exchange believes it is reasonable to allocate such third-party 
expense described above towards the total cost to the Exchange to 
provide the access services associated with the Proposed Access Fees. 
In particular, the Exchange believes it is reasonable to allocate the 
identified portion of the Equinix expense because Equinix operates the 
data centers (primary, secondary, and disaster recovery) that host the 
Exchange's network infrastructure. This includes, among other things, 
the necessary storage space, which continues to expand and increase in 
cost, power to operate the network infrastructure, and cooling 
apparatuses to ensure the Exchange's network infrastructure maintains 
stability. Without these services from Equinix, the Exchange would not 
be able to operate and support the network and provide the access 
services associated with the Proposed Access Fees to its Members and 
their customers. The Exchange did not allocate all of the Equinix 
expense toward the cost of providing the access services associated 
with the Proposed Access Fees, only that portion which the Exchange 
identified as being specifically mapped to providing the access 
services associated with the Proposed Access Fees, approximately 1.80% 
of the total applicable Equinix expense. The Exchange believes this 
allocation is reasonable because it represents the Exchange's actual 
cost to provide the access services associated with the Proposed Access 
Fees, and not any other service, as supported by its cost review.\50\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \50\ As noted above, the percentage allocations used in this 
proposed rule change may differ from past filings from the Exchange 
or its affiliates due to, among other things, changes in expenses 
charged by third-parties, adjustments to internal resource 
allocations, and different system architecture of the Exchange as 
compared to its affiliates. Again, as part its ongoing assessment of 
costs and expenses, the Exchange recently conducted a periodic 
thorough review of its expenses and resource allocations which, in 
turn, resulted in a revised percentage allocations in this filing.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Exchange believes it is reasonable to allocate the identified 
portion of the Zayo expense because Zayo provides the internet, fiber 
and bandwidth connections with respect to the network, linking the 
Exchange with its affiliates, MIAX and MIAX Emerald, as well as the 
data center and disaster recovery locations. As such, all of the trade 
data, including the billions of messages each day per exchange, flow 
through Zayo's infrastructure over the Exchange's network. Without 
these services from Zayo, the Exchange would not be able to operate and 
support the network and provide the access services associated with the 
Proposed Access Fees. The Exchange did not allocate all of the Zayo 
expense toward the cost of providing the access services associated 
with the Proposed Access Fees, only the portion which the Exchange 
identified as being specifically mapped to providing the Proposed 
Access Fees, approximately 0.90% of the total applicable Zayo expense. 
The Exchange believes this allocation is reasonable because it 
represents the Exchange's actual cost to provide the access services 
associated with the Proposed Access Fees, and not any other service, as 
supported by its cost review.\51\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \51\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Exchange believes it is reasonable to allocate the identified 
portions of the SFTI expense and various other service providers' 
(including Thompson Reuters, NYSE, NASDAQ, and Internap) expense 
because those entities provide connectivity and feeds for the entire 
U.S. options industry, as well as the content, connectivity services, 
and infrastructure services for critical components of the network. 
Without these services from SFTI and various other service providers, 
the Exchange would not be able to operate and support the network and 
provide access to its Members and their customers. The Exchange did not 
allocate all of the SFTI and other service providers' expense toward 
the cost of providing the access services associated with the Proposed 
Access Fees, only the portions which

[[Page 1210]]

the Exchange identified as being specifically mapped to providing the 
access services associated with the Proposed Access Fees, approximately 
0.90% of the total applicable SFTI and other service providers' 
expense. The Exchange believes this allocation is reasonable because it 
represents the Exchange's actual cost to provide the access services 
associated with the Proposed Access Fees.\52\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \52\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Exchange believes it is reasonable to allocate the identified 
portion of the other hardware and software provider expense because 
this includes costs for dedicated hardware licenses for switches and 
servers, as well as dedicated software licenses for security monitoring 
and reporting across the network. Without this hardware and software, 
the Exchange would not be able to operate and support the network and 
provide access to its Members and their customers. The Exchange did not 
allocate all of the hardware and software provider expense toward the 
cost of providing the access services associated with the Proposed 
Access Fees, only the portions which the Exchange identified as being 
specifically mapped to providing the access services associated with 
the Proposed Access Fees, approximately 0.90% of the total applicable 
hardware and software provider expense. The Exchange believes this 
allocation is reasonable because it represents the Exchange's actual 
cost to provide the access services associated with the Proposed Access 
Fees.\53\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \53\ Id.
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Internal Expense Allocations
    For 2021, total projected internal expense, relating to the 
internal costs of the Exchange to provide the access services 
associated with the Proposed Access Fees, is projected to be $856,918. 
This includes, but is not limited to, costs associated with: (1) 
Employee compensation and benefits for full-time employees that support 
the access services associated with the Proposed Access Fees, including 
staff in network operations, trading operations, development, system 
operations, business, as well as staff in general corporate departments 
(such as legal, regulatory, and finance) that support those employees 
and functions; (2) depreciation and amortization of hardware and 
software used to provide the access services associated with the 
Proposed Access Fees, including equipment, servers, cabling, purchased 
software and internally developed software used in the production 
environment to support the network for trading; and (3) occupancy costs 
for leased office space for staff that provide the access services 
associated with the Proposed Access Fees. The breakdown of these costs 
is more fully-described below. For clarity, only a portion of all such 
internal expenses are included in the internal expense herein, and no 
expense amount is allocated twice. Accordingly, the Exchange does not 
allocate its entire costs contained in those items to the access 
services associated with the Proposed Access Fees.
    For clarity, and as stated above, the Exchange took a conservative 
approach in determining the expense and the percentage of that expense 
to be allocated to providing the access services in connection with the 
Proposed Access Fees. Only a portion of all such internal expenses are 
included in the internal expense herein, and no expense amount is 
allocated twice. Accordingly, the Exchange does not allocate its entire 
costs contained in those items to the access services associated with 
the Proposed Access Fees. This may result in the Exchange under 
allocating an expense to the provision of access services in connection 
with the Proposed Access Fees and such expenses may actually be higher 
or increase above what the Exchange utilizes within this proposal. 
Further, as part its ongoing assessment of costs and expenses 
(described above), the Exchange recently conducted a periodic thorough 
review of its expenses and resource allocations which, in turn, 
resulted in a revised percentage allocations in this filing.
    The Exchange believes it is reasonable to allocate such internal 
expense described above towards the total cost to the Exchange to 
provide the access services associated with the Proposed Access Fees. 
In particular, the Exchange's employee compensation and benefits 
expense relating to providing the access services associated with the 
Proposed Access Fees is projected to be $783,513, which is only a 
portion of the $9,163,894 total projected expense for employee 
compensation and benefits. The Exchange believes it is reasonable to 
allocate the identified portion of such expense because this includes 
the time spent by employees of several departments, including 
Technology, Back Office, Systems Operations, Networking, Business 
Strategy Development (who create the business requirement documents 
that the Technology staff use to develop network features and 
enhancements), Trade Operations, Finance (who provide billing and 
accounting services relating to the network), and Legal (who provide 
legal services relating to the network, such as rule filings and 
various license agreements and other contracts). As part of the 
extensive cost review conducted by the Exchange, the Exchange reviewed 
the amount of time spent by each employee on matters relating to the 
provision of access services associated with the Proposed Access Fees. 
Without these employees, the Exchange would not be able to provide the 
access services associated with the Proposed Access Fees to its Members 
and their customers. The Exchange did not allocate all of the employee 
compensation and benefits expense toward the cost of the access 
services associated with the Proposed Access Fees, only the portions 
which the Exchange identified as being specifically mapped to providing 
the access services associated with the Proposed Access Fees, 
approximately 8.55% of the total applicable employee compensation and 
benefits expense. The Exchange believes this allocation is reasonable 
because it represents the Exchange's actual cost to provide the access 
services associated with the Proposed Access Fees, and not any other 
service, as supported by its cost review.\54\
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    \54\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Exchange's depreciation and amortization expense relating to 
providing the access services associated with the Proposed Access Fees 
is projected to be $64,456, which is only a portion of the $2,864,716 
\55\ total projected expense for depreciation and amortization. The 
Exchange believes it is reasonable to allocate the identified portion 
of such expense because such expense includes the actual cost of the 
computer equipment, such as dedicated servers, computers, laptops, 
monitors, information security appliances and storage, and network 
switching infrastructure equipment, including switches and taps that 
were purchased to operate and support the network and provide the 
access services associated with the Proposed Access Fees. Without this 
equipment, the Exchange would not be able to operate the network and 
provide the access services associated with the Proposed Access Fees to 
its Members and their customers. The Exchange did not allocate all of 
the depreciation and amortization expense

[[Page 1211]]

toward the cost of providing the access services associated with the 
Proposed Access Fees, only the portion which the Exchange identified as 
being specifically mapped to providing the access services associated 
with the Proposed Access Fees, approximately 2.25% of the total 
applicable depreciation and amortization expense, as these access 
services would not be possible without relying on such. The Exchange 
believes this allocation is reasonable because it represents the 
Exchange's actual cost to provide the access services associated with 
the Proposed Access Fees, and not any other service, as supported by 
its cost review.\56\
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    \55\ The Exchange notes that the total depreciation expense is 
different from the total for the Exchange's filing relating to 
Trading Permits because the Exchange factors in the depreciation of 
its own internally developed software when assessing costs for Full 
Service MEO Ports, resulting in a higher depreciation expense number 
in this filing.
    \56\ Id.
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    The Exchange's occupancy expense relating to providing the access 
services associated with the Proposed Access Fees is projected to be 
$8,949, which is only a portion of the $497,180 total projected expense 
for occupancy. The Exchange believes it is reasonable to allocate the 
identified portion of such expense because such expense represents the 
portion of the Exchange's cost to rent and maintain a physical location 
for the Exchange's staff who operate and support the network, including 
providing the access services associated with the Proposed Access Fees. 
This amount consists primarily of rent for the Exchange's Princeton, 
New Jersey office, as well as various related costs, such as physical 
security, property management fees, property taxes, and utilities. The 
Exchange operates its Network Operations Center (``NOC'') and Security 
Operations Center (``SOC'') from its Princeton, New Jersey office 
location. A centralized office space is required to house the staff 
that operates and supports the network. The Exchange currently has 
approximately 200 employees. Approximately two-thirds of the Exchange's 
staff are in the Technology department, and the majority of those staff 
have some role in the operation and performance of the access services 
associated with the Proposed Access Fees. Without this office space, 
the Exchange would not be able to operate and support the network and 
provide the access services associated with the Proposed Access Fees to 
its Members and their customers. Accordingly, the Exchange believes it 
is reasonable to allocate the identified portion of its occupancy 
expense because such amount represents the Exchange's actual cost to 
house the equipment and personnel who operate and support the 
Exchange's network infrastructure and the access services associated 
with the Proposed Access Fees. The Exchange did not allocate all of the 
occupancy expense toward the cost of providing the access services 
associated with the Proposed Access Fees, only the portion which the 
Exchange identified as being specifically mapped to operating and 
supporting the network, approximately 1.80% of the total applicable 
occupancy expense. The Exchange believes this allocation is reasonable 
because it represents the Exchange's cost to provide the access 
services associated with the Proposed Access Fees, and not any other 
service, as supported by its cost review.\57\
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    \57\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Exchange notes that a material portion of its total overall 
expense is allocated to the provision of access services (including 
connectivity, ports, and trading permits). The Exchange believes this 
is reasonable and in line, as the Exchange operates a technology-based 
business that differentiates itself from its competitors based on its 
trading systems that rely on access to a high performance network, 
resulting in significant technology expense. Over two-thirds of 
Exchange staff are technology-related employees. The majority of the 
Exchange's expense is technology-based. As described above, the 
Exchange has only four primary sources of fees in to recover its costs, 
thus the Exchange believes it is reasonable to allocate a material 
portion of its total overall expense towards access fees.
    Based on the above, the Exchange believes that its provision of 
access services associated with the Proposed Access Fees will not 
result in excessive pricing or supra-competitive profit. As discussed 
above, the Exchange projects that the annualized expense for 2021 to 
provide Full Service MEO Ports to be approximately $897,084 per annum 
or an average of $74,757 per month. The Exchange implemented the 
Proposed Access Fees on July 1, 2021 in the First Proposed Rule Change. 
For June 2021, prior to the Proposed Access Fees, Members and non-
Members purchased a total of 20 Full Service MEO Ports, for which the 
Exchange charged a total of approximately $71,625. This resulted in a 
loss of $3,132 for that month (a margin of -4.37%). For the month of 
November 2021, which includes the Proposed Access Fees, Members and 
non-Members purchased a total of 19 Full Service MEO Ports, for which 
the Exchange charged a total of approximately $122,000 for that month. 
This resulted in a profit of $47,243 for that month, representing a 
profit margin of 38%. The Exchange believes that the Proposed Access 
Fees are reasonable because they are designed to generate an 
approximate profit margin of 38% per-month. The Exchange believes this 
modest profit margin will allow it to continue to recoup its expenses 
and continue to invest in its technology infrastructure. Therefore, the 
Exchange also believes that this proposed profit margin increase is 
reasonable because it represents a reasonable rate of return.
    Again, the Exchange cautions that this profit margin may fluctuate 
from month to month based in the uncertainty of predicting how many 
Full Service MEO Ports may be purchased from month to month as Members 
and non-Members are free to add and drop ports at any time based on 
their own business decisions. This profit margin may also decrease due 
to the significant inflationary pressure on capital items that it needs 
to purchase to maintain the Exchange's technology and systems.\58\ 
Accordingly, the Exchange believes its total projected revenue for 
providing the access services associated with the Proposed Access Fees 
will not result in excessive pricing or supra-competitive profit.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \58\ See supra note 42.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Exchange believes it is reasonable, equitable and not unfairly 
discriminatory to allocate the respective percentages of each expense 
category described above towards the total cost to the Exchange of 
operating and supporting the network, including providing the access 
services associated with the Proposed Access Fees because the Exchange 
performed a line-by-line item analysis of nearly every expense of the 
Exchange, and has determined the expenses that directly relate to 
providing access to the Exchange. Further, the Exchange notes that, 
without the specific third-party and internal items listed above, the 
Exchange would not be able to provide the access services associated 
with the Proposed Access Fees to its Members and their customers. Each 
of these expense items, including physical hardware, software, employee 
compensation and benefits, occupancy costs, and the depreciation and 
amortization of equipment, have been identified through a line-by-line 
item analysis to be integral to providing access services. The Proposed 
Access Fees are intended to recover the Exchange's costs of providing 
access to Exchange Systems. Accordingly, the Exchange believes that the 
Proposed Access Fees are fair and reasonable because they do not result 
in excessive pricing or supra-competitive profit, when comparing the 
actual costs to the

[[Page 1212]]

Exchange versus the projected annual revenue from the Proposed Access 
Fees.
The Proposed Tiered-Pricing Structure Is Not Unfairly Discriminatory 
and Provides for the Equitable Allocation of Fees, Dues, and Other 
Charges
    The Exchange believes the proposed tiered-pricing structure is 
reasonable, fair, equitable, and not unfairly discriminatory because it 
is the model adopted by the Exchange when it launched operations for 
its Full Service MEO Port fees. Moreover, the tiered pricing structure 
for Full Service MEO Ports is not a new proposal and has been in place 
since 2018, well prior to the filing of the First Proposed Rule Change. 
The proposed tiers of Full Service MEO Port fees will continue to apply 
to all Members and non-Members in the same manner based upon the 
monthly total volume executed by a Member and its Affiliates on the 
Exchange across all origin types, not including Excluded Contracts, as 
compared to the TCV in all MIAX Pearl-listed options. Members and non-
Members may choose to purchase more than the two Full Service MEO Ports 
the Exchange currently provides upfront based on their own business 
decisions and needs. All similarly situated Members and non-Members 
would be subject to the same fees. The fees do not depend on any 
distinction between Members and non-Members because they are solely 
determined by the individual Members' or non-Members' business needs 
and their impact on Exchange resources.
    The proposed tiered-pricing structure is not unfairly 
discriminatory and provides for the equitable allocation of fees, dues, 
and other charges because it is designed to encourage Members and non-
Members to be more efficient and economical when determining how to 
access the Exchange and the amount of the fees are based on the number 
of Full Service MEO Ports utilized, in addition to the amount of volume 
conducted on the Exchange. The proposed tiered pricing structure should 
also enable the Exchange to better monitor and provide access to the 
Exchange's network to ensure sufficient capacity and headroom in the 
System.
    The proposed tiered-pricing structure is not unfairly 
discriminatory and provides for the equitable allocation of fees, dues, 
and other charges because the amount of the fee is directly related to 
the Member or non-Member's TCV resulting in higher fees for greater 
TCV. The higher the volume, the greater pull on Exchange resources. The 
Exchange's high performance network solutions and supporting 
infrastructure (including employee support), provides unparalleled 
system throughput and the capacity to handle approximately 10.7 million 
order messages per second. On an average day, the Exchange handles over 
approximately 2.7 billion total messages. However, in order to achieve 
a consistent, premium network performance, the Exchange must build out 
and maintain a network that has the capacity to handle the message rate 
requirements of its most heavy network consumers. These billions of 
messages per day consume the Exchange's resources and significantly 
contribute to the overall expense for storage and network transport 
capabilities.
    There are material costs associated with providing the 
infrastructure and headcount to fully-support access to the Exchange. 
The Exchange incurs technology expense related to establishing and 
maintaining Information Security services, enhanced network monitoring 
and customer reporting, as well as Regulation SCI mandated processes, 
associated with its network technology. While some of the expense is 
fixed, much of the expense is not fixed, and thus increases as the 
services associated with the Proposed Access Fees increase. For 
example, new Members to the Exchange may require the purchase of 
additional hardware to support those Members as well as enhanced 
monitoring and reporting of customer performance that the Exchange and 
its affiliates provide. Further, as the total number of Members 
increases, the Exchange and its affiliates may need to increase their 
data center footprint and consume more power, resulting in increased 
costs charged by their third-party data center provider. Accordingly, 
the cost to the Exchange and its affiliates to provide access to its 
Members is not fixed. The Exchange believes the Proposed Access Fees 
are reasonable in order to offset a portion of the costs to the 
Exchange associated with providing access to its network 
infrastructure.
    The Exchange notes that the firms that purchase more than two Full 
Service MEO Ports that the Exchange initially provides essentially do 
so for competitive reasons amongst themselves and choose to utilize 
numerous ports based on their business needs and desire to attempt to 
access the market quicker by using the port with the least amount of 
latency. These firms are generally engaged in sending liquidity 
removing orders to the Exchange and seek to add more ports so they can 
access resting liquidity ahead of their competitors. For instance, a 
Member may have just sent numerous messages and/or orders over one of 
their Full Service MEO Ports that are in queue to be processed. That 
same Member then seeks to enter an order to remove liquidity from the 
Exchange's Book. That Member may choose to send that order over one or 
more of their other Full Service MEO Ports with less message and/or 
order traffic to ensure that their liquidity taking order accesses the 
Exchange quicker because that port's queue is shorter. These firms also 
tend to frequently add and drop ports mid-month to determine which have 
the least latency, which results in increased costs to the Exchange to 
constantly make changes in the data center.
    The firms that engage in the above-described liquidity removing and 
advanced trading strategies typically require more than two Full 
Service MEO Ports and, therefore, generate higher costs by utilizing 
more of the Exchange's resources. Those firms may also conduct other 
latency measurements over their ports and drop and simultaneously add 
ports mid-month based on their own assessment of their performance. 
This results in Exchange staff processing such requests, potentially 
purchasing additional equipment, and performing the necessary network 
engineering to replace those ports in the data center. Therefore, the 
Exchange believes it is equitable for these firms to experience 
increased port costs based on their disproportionate pull on Exchange 
resources to provide the additional ports.
    In addition, the proposed tiered-pricing structure is equitable 
because it is designed to encourage Members and non-Members to be more 
efficient and economical when determining how to connect to the 
Exchange. Section 6(b)(5) of the Exchange Act requires the Exchange to 
provide access on terms that are not unfairly discriminatory.\59\ As 
stated above, Full Service MEO Ports are not an unlimited resource and 
the Exchange's network is limited in the amount of ports it can 
provide. However, the Exchange must accommodate requests for additional 
ports and access to the Exchange's System to ensure that the Exchange 
is able to provide access on non-discriminatory terms and ensure 
sufficient capacity and headroom in the System. To accommodate requests 
for additional ports on top of current network capacity constraints, 
requires that the Exchange purchase additional equipment to satisfy 
these requests. The Exchange also needs to provide personnel to set up 
new ports and to maintain those ports on behalf of

[[Page 1213]]

Members and non-Members. The proposed tiered-pricing structure is 
equitable because it is designed to encourage Members and non-Members 
to be more efficient and economical in selecting the amount of ports 
they request while balancing that against the Exchange's increased 
expenses when expanding its network to accommodate additional port 
access.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \59\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Proposed Fees Are Reasonable When Compared to the Fees of Other 
Options Exchanges With Similar Market Share
    The Exchange does not have visibility into other equities 
exchanges' costs to provide ports and port access or their fee markup 
over those costs, and therefore cannot use other exchanges' port fees 
as a benchmark to determine a reasonable markup over the costs of 
providing port access. Nevertheless, the Exchange believes the other 
exchanges' port fees are a useful example of alternative approaches to 
providing and charging for port access. To that end, the Exchange 
believes the proposed tiered-pricing structure for its Full Service MEO 
Ports is reasonable because the proposed highest tier is still less 
than or similar to fees charged for similar port access provided by 
other options exchanges with comparable market shares. For example, 
NASDAQ (equity options market share of 8.38% as of December 15, 2021 
for the month of December) \60\ charges $1,500 per port for SQF ports 
1-5, $1,000 per SQF port for ports 6-20, and $500 per SQF port for 
ports 21 and greater,\61\ all on a per matching engine basis, with 
NASDAQ having multiple matching engines.\62\ NYSE American (equity 
options market share of 6.74% as of December 15, 2021 for the month of 
December) \63\ charges $450 per port for order/quote entry ports 1-40 
and $150 per port for ports 41 and greater,\64\ all on a per matching 
engine basis, with NYSE American having 17 match engines.\65\ The below 
table further illustrates this comparison.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \60\ See ``The market at a glance,'' available at https://www.miaxoptions.com/ (last visited December 15, 2021).
    \61\ See supra note 27.
    \62\ See supra note 15.
    \63\ See supra note 60.
    \64\ See supra note 25.
    \65\ See supra note 15.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
          Exchange                Type of port           Monthly fee
------------------------------------------------------------------------
MIAX Pearl (as proposed)....  MEO Full Service--    Tier 1: $5,000 (or
                               Bulk.                 $208.33 per
                                                     Matching Engine).
                                                    Tier 2: $7,500 (or
                                                     $312.50 per
                                                     Matching Engine).
                                                    Tier 3: $10,000 (or
                                                     $416.66 per
                                                     Matching Engine).
                              MEO Full Service--    Tier 1: $2,500 (or
                               Single.               $104.16 per
                                                     Matching Engine).
                                                    Tier 2: $3,500 (or
                                                     $145.83 per
                                                     Matching Engine).
                                                    Tier 3: $4,500 (or
                                                     $187.50 per
                                                     Matching Engine).
NYSE American...............  Order/Quote Entry...  Ports 1-40: $450
                                                     each.
                                                    Ports 41 or more:
                                                     $150 each.
NYSE Arca...................  Order/Quote Entry...  Ports 1-40: $450
                                                     each.
                                                    Ports 41 or more:
                                                     $150 each.
NASDAQ......................  Specialized Quote     Ports 1-5: $1,500
                               Interface.            each.
                                                    Ports 6-20: $1,000
                                                     each.
                                                    Ports 21 or more:
                                                     $500.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In the each of the above cases, the Exchange's highest tiered port 
fee, as proposed, is similar to or less than the port fees of competing 
options exchanges with like market share. Further, as described in more 
detail below, many competing exchanges generate higher overall 
operating profit margins and higher ``access fees'' than the Exchange, 
inclusive of the projected revenues associated with the proposed fees. 
The Exchange believes that it provides a premium network experience to 
its Members and non-Members via a highly deterministic system, enhanced 
network monitoring and customer reporting, and a superior network 
infrastructure than markets with higher market shares and more 
expensive access fees. Each of the port fee rates in place at competing 
options exchanges were filed with the Commission for immediate 
effectiveness and remain in place today.
    The Exchange further believes that the proposed fees are 
reasonable, equitably allocated and not unfairly discriminatory 
because, for the flat fee, the Exchange provides each Member two (2) 
Full Service MEO Ports for each matching engine to which that Member is 
connected. Unlike other options exchanges that provide similar port 
functionality and charge fees on a per port basis,\66\ the Exchange 
offers Full Service MEO Ports as a package and provides Members with 
the option to receive up to two Full Service MEO Ports per matching 
engine to which it connects. The Exchange currently has twelve (12) 
matching engines, which means Members may receive up to twenty-four 
(24) Full Service MEO Ports for a single monthly fee, that can vary 
based on certain volume percentages. The Exchange currently assesses 
Members a fee of $5,000 per month in the highest Full Service MEO 
Port--Bulk Tier, regardless of the number of Full Service MEO Ports 
allocated to the Member. Assuming a Member connects to all twelve (12) 
matching engines during a month, with two Full Service MEO Ports per 
matching engine, this results in a cost of $208.33 per Full Service MEO 
Port--Bulk ($5,000 divided by 24) for the month. This fee has been 
unchanged since the Exchange adopted Full Service MEO Port fees in 
2018.\67\ The Exchange now proposes to increase the Full Service MEO 
Port fees, with the highest Tier fee for a Full Service MEO Port--Bulk 
of $10,000 per month. Members will continue to receive two (2) Full 
Service MEO Ports to each matching engine to which they are connected 
for the single flat monthly fee. Assuming a Member connects to all 
twelve (12) matching engines during the month, and achieves the highest 
Tier for that month, with two Full Service MEO Ports--Bulk per matching 
engine, this would result in a cost of $416.67 per Full Service MEO 
Port ($10,000 divided by 24).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \66\ See supra note 15.
    \67\ See supra note 16.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

B. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement on Burden on Competition

    The Exchange does not believe that the proposed rule change would 
place certain market participants at the Exchange at a relative 
disadvantage compared to other market participants or affect the 
ability of such market participants to compete.

[[Page 1214]]

Intra-Market Competition
    The Exchange believes that the Proposed Access Fees do not place 
certain market participants at a relative disadvantage to other market 
participants because the Proposed Access Fees do not favor certain 
categories of market participants in a manner that would impose a 
burden on competition; rather, the allocation of the Proposed Access 
Fees reflects the network resources consumed by the various size of 
market participants--lowest bandwidth consuming members pay the least, 
and highest bandwidth consuming members pays the most, particularly 
since higher bandwidth consumption translates to higher costs to the 
Exchange.
Inter-Market Competition
    The Exchange believes the Proposed Access Fees do not place an 
undue burden on competition on other options exchanges that is not 
necessary or appropriate. In particular, options market participants 
are not forced to connect to (and purchase MEO Ports from) all options 
exchanges. The Exchange also notes that it has far less Members as 
compared to the much greater number of members at other options 
exchanges. Not only does MIAX Pearl have less than half the number of 
members as certain other options exchanges, but there are also a number 
of the Exchange's Members that do not connect directly to MIAX Pearl. 
There are a number of large users of the MEO Interface and broker-
dealers that are members of other options exchange but not Members of 
MIAX Pearl. The Exchange is also unaware of any assertion that its 
existing fee levels or the Proposed Access Fees would somehow unduly 
impair its competition with other options exchanges. To the contrary, 
if the fees charged are deemed too high by market participants, they 
can simply disconnect.
    The Exchange operates in a highly competitive market in which 
market participants can readily favor one of the 15 competing options 
venues if they deem fee levels at a particular venue to be excessive. 
Based on publicly-available information, and excluding index-based 
options, no single exchange has more than approximately 16% market 
share. Therefore, no exchange possesses significant pricing power in 
the execution of multiply-listed equity and ETF options order flow. 
Over the course of 2021, the Exchange's market share has fluctuated 
between approximately 3-6% of the U.S. equity options industry.\68\ The 
Exchange is not aware of any evidence that a market share of 
approximately 3-6% provides the Exchange with anti-competitive pricing 
power. If the Exchange were to attempt to establish unreasonable 
pricing, then no market participant would join or connect, and existing 
market participants would disconnect. The Exchange believes that the 
ever-shifting market share among exchanges from month to month 
demonstrates that market participants can discontinue or reduce use of 
certain categories of products, or shift order flow, in response to fee 
changes. In such an environment, the Exchange must continually adjust 
its fees and fee waivers to remain competitive with other exchanges and 
to attract order flow to the Exchange.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \68\ See supra note 60.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

    As described above, the Exchange received one comment letter on the 
First Proposed Rule Change \69\ and no comment letters on the Second 
Proposed Rule Change. The Exchange now responds to the one comment 
letter in this filing. The SIG Letter cites Rule 700(b)(3) of the 
Commission's Rules of Fair Practice which places ``the burden to 
demonstrate that a proposed rule change is consistent with the Act on 
the self-regulatory organization that proposed the rule change'' and 
states that a ``mere assertion that the proposed rule change is 
consistent with those requirements . . . is not sufficient.'' \70\ The 
SIG Letter's assertion that the Exchange has not met this burden is 
without merit, especially considering the overwhelming amounts of 
revenue and cost information the Exchange included in the First and 
Second Proposed Rule Changes and this filing.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \69\ See supra note 7.
    \70\ 17 CFR 201.700(b)(3).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Until recently, the Exchange has operated at a net annual loss 
since it launched operations in 2017.\71\ As stated above, the Exchange 
believes that exchanges in setting fees of all types should meet very 
high standards of transparency to demonstrate why each new fee or fee 
increase meets the requirements of the Act that fees be reasonable, 
equitably allocated, not unfairly discriminatory, and not create an 
undue burden on competition among market participants. The Exchange 
believes this high standard is especially important when an exchange 
imposes various access fees for market participants to access an 
exchange's marketplace. The Exchange believes it has achieved this 
standard in this filing and in the First and Second Proposed Rules 
Changes. Similar justifications for the proposed fee change included in 
the First and Second Proposed Rule Changes, but also in this filing, 
were previously included in similar fee changes filed by the Exchange 
and its affiliates, MIAX Emerald and MIAX, and SIG did not submit a 
comment letter on those filings.\72\ Those filings were not suspended 
by the Commission and continue to remain in effect. The justification 
included in each of the prior filings was the result of numerous 
withdrawals and re-filings of the proposals to address comments 
received from Commission Staff over many months. The Exchange and its 
affiliates have worked diligently with Commission Staff on ensuring the 
justification included in past fee filings fully supported an assertion 
that those proposed fee changes were consistent with the Act.\73\ The 
Exchange leveraged

[[Page 1215]]

its past work with Commission Staff to ensure the justification 
provided herein and in the First and Second Proposed Rule Changes 
included the same level of detail (or more) as the prior fee changes 
that survived Commission scrutiny. The Exchange's detailed disclosures 
in fee filings have also been applauded by one industry group which 
noted, ``[the Exchange's] filings contain significantly greater 
information about who is impacted and how than other filings that have 
been permitted to take effect without suspension.'' \74\ That same 
industry group also noted their ``worry that the Commission's process 
for reviewing and evaluating exchange filings may be inconsistently 
applied.'' \75\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \71\ See supra note 44.
    \72\ See Securities Exchange Act Release Nos. 91858 (May 12, 
2021), 86 FR 26967 (May 18, 2021) (SR-PEARL-2021-23) (Notice of 
Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change to 
Amend the MIAX Pearl Fee Schedule to Remove the Cap on the Number of 
Additional Limited Service Ports Available to Market Makers); 91460 
(April 2, 2021), 86 FR 18349 (April 8, 2021) (SR-EMERALD-2021-11) 
(Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule 
Change To Amend Its Fee Schedule To Adopt Port Fees, Increase 
Certain Network Connectivity Fees, and Increase the Number of 
Additional Limited Service MIAX Emerald Express Interface Ports 
Available to Market Makers); and 91857 (May 12, 2021), 86 FR 26973 
(May 18, 2021) (SR-MIAX-2021-19) (Notice of Filing and Immediate 
Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change To Amend Its Fee Schedule To 
Remove the Cap on the Number of Additional Limited Service Ports 
Available to Market Makers).
    \73\ See, e.g., Securities Exchange Act Release No. 90196 
(October 15, 2020), 85 FR 67064 (October 21, 2020) (SR-EMERALD-2020-
11) (Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule 
Change To Amend Its Fee Schedule To Adopt One-Time Membership 
Application Fees and Monthly Trading Permit Fees). See Securities 
Exchange Act Release Nos. 90601 (December 8, 2020), 85 FR 80864 
(December 14, 2020) (SR-EMERALD-2020-18) (re-filing with more detail 
added in response to Commission Staff's feedback and after 
withdrawing SR-EMERALD-2020-11); and 91033 (February 1, 2021), 86 FR 
8455 (February 5, 2021) (SR-EMERALD-2021-03) (re-filing with more 
detail added in response to Commission Staff's feedback and after 
withdrawing SR-EMERALD-2020-18). The Exchange initially filed a 
proposal to remove the cap on the number of additional Limited 
Service MEO Ports available to Members on April 9, 2021. See SR-
PEARL-2021-17. On April 22, 2021, the Exchange withdrew SR-PEARL-
2021-17 and refiled that proposal (without increasing the actual fee 
amounts) to provide further clarification regarding the Exchange's 
revenues, costs, and profitability any time more Limited Service MEO 
Ports become available, in general, (including information regarding 
the Exchange's methodology for determining the costs and revenues 
for additional Limited Service MEO Ports). See SR-PEARL-2021-20. On 
May 3, 2021, the Exchange withdrew SR-PEARL-2021-20 and refiled that 
proposal to further clarify its cost methodology. See SR-PEARL-2021-
22. On May 10, 2021, the Exchange withdrew SR-PEARL-2021-22 and 
refiled that proposal as SR-PEARL-2021-23. See Securities Exchange 
Act Release No. 91858 (May 12, 2021), 86 FR 26967 (May 18, 2021) 
(SR-PEARL-2021-23).
    \74\ See letter from Tyler Gellasch, Executive Director, Healthy 
Markets Association, to Hon. Gary Gensler, Chair, Commission, dated 
October 29, 2021.
    \75\ Id. (providing examples where non-transaction fee filings 
by other exchanges have been permitted to remain effective and not 
suspended by the Commission despite less disclosure and 
justification).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Therefore, a finding by the Commission that the Exchange has not 
met its burden to show that the proposed fee change is consistent with 
the Act would be different than the Commission's treatment of similar 
past filings, would create further ambiguity regarding the standards 
exchange fee changes should satisfy, and is not warranted here.
    In addition, the arguments in the SIG Letter do not support their 
claim that the Exchange has not met its burden to show the proposed 
rule change is consistent with the Act. Prior to, and after submitting 
the First Proposed Rule Change, the Exchange solicited feedback from 
its Members, including SIG. SIG relayed their concerns regarding the 
proposed change. The Exchange then sought to work with SIG to address 
their concerns and gain a better understanding of the access/
connectivity/quoting infrastructure of other exchanges. In response, 
SIG provided no substantive suggestions on how to amend the First 
Proposed Rule Change to address their concerns and instead chose to 
submit a comment letter. One could argue that SIG is using the comment 
letter process not to raise legitimate regulatory concerns regarding 
the proposal, but to inhibit or delay proposed fee changes by the 
Exchange.
    Nonetheless, the Exchange has enhanced its cost and revenue 
analysis and data in this Third Proposed Rule Change to further justify 
that the Proposed Access Fees are reasonable in accordance with the 
Commission Staff's Guidance. Among other things, these enhancements 
include providing baseline information in the form of data from the 
month before the Proposed Access Fees became effective.
General
    First, the SIG Letter states that 10Gb ULL ``lines are critical to 
Exchange members to be competitive and to provide essential protection 
from adverse market events'' (emphasis added).\76\ The Exchange notes 
that this statement is generally not true for Full Service MEO Ports as 
those ports are used primarily for order entry and not risk protection 
activities like purging quotes resting on the MIAX Pearl Options Book. 
Full Service MEO Ports are essentially used for competitive reasons and 
Members may choose to utilize one or two Full Service MEO Ports \77\ 
based on their business needs and desire to attempt to access the 
market quicker by using one port that may have less latency. For 
instance, a Member may have just sent numerous messages and/or orders 
over one of their Full Service MEO Ports that are in queue to be 
processed. That same Member then seeks to enter an order to remove 
liquidity from the Exchange's Book. That Member may choose to send that 
order over one of their other Full Service MEO Ports with less message 
and/or order traffic or any of their optional additional Limit Service 
MEO Ports \78\ to ensure that their liquidity taking order accesses the 
Exchange quicker because that port's queue is shorter.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \76\ See SIG Letter, supra note 7.
    \77\ The rates set forth for Full Service MEO Ports under 
Section 5(d) of the Exchange's Fee Schedule entitle a Member to two 
(2) Full Service MEO Ports for each Matching Engine for a single 
monthly fee.
    \78\ Members may be allocated two (2) Full-Service MEO Ports per 
Matching Engine and may request Limited Service MEO Ports for which 
the Exchange will assess no fee for the first two Limited Service 
MEO Ports requested by the Member. See Fee Schedule, Section 5(d).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Tiered Pricing Structure for Full Service MEO Ports Provides for 
the Equitable Allocation of Reasonable Dues, Fees, and Other Charges
    The SIG Letter challenges the below two bases the Exchange set 
forth in its Initial Proposed Fee Change and herein to support the 
assertion that the proposal provides for the equitable allocation of 
reasonable dues, fees, and other charges:
     ``If the Exchanges were to attempt to establish 
unreasonable pricing, then no market participant would join or connect 
to the Exchanges, and existing market participants would disconnect.
     The fees will not result in excessive pricing or supra-
competitive profit.'' \79\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \79\ See SIG Letter, supra note 7.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Exchange responds to each of SIG's challenges in turn below.
If the Exchanges Were To Attempt To Establish Unreasonable Pricing, 
Then No Market Participant Would Join or Connect to the Exchange, and 
Existing Market Participants Would Disconnect
    SIG asserts that ``the prospect that a member may withdraw from the 
Exchanges if a fee is too costly is not a basis for asserting that the 
fee is reasonable.'' \80\ SIG misinterprets the Exchange's argument 
here. The Exchange provided the examples of firms terminating access to 
certain markets due to fees to support its assertion that firms, 
including market makers, are not required to connect to all markets and 
may drop access if fees become too costly for their business models and 
alternative or substitute forms of connectivity are available to those 
firms who choose to terminate access. The Commission Staff Guidance 
also provides that ``[a] statement that substitute products or services 
are available to market participants in the relevant market (e.g., 
equities or options) can demonstrate competitive forces if supported by 
evidence that substitute products or services exist.'' \81\ 
Nonetheless, the Third Proposed Rule Change no longer makes this 
assertion as a basis for the proposed fee change and, therefore, the 
Exchange believes it is not necessary to respond to this portion of the 
SIG Letter.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \80\ Id.
    \81\ See Guidance, supra note 31.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Proposed Fees Will Not Result in Excessive Pricing or Supra-
Competitive Profit
    Next, SIG asserts that the Exchange's ``profit margin comparisons 
do not support the Exchange's claims that they will not realize a 
supracompetitive profit,'' that ``the Exchanges' respective profit 
margins of 30% (for MIAX and Pearl) and 51% (for Emerald) in relation 
to connectivity fees are high in any event,'' and ``comparisons to 
competing exchanges' overall operating profit margins are an inapt 
`apples-to-oranges' comparison.''
    The Exchange has provided ample data that the proposed fees would 
not result in excessive pricing or a supra-competitive profit. In this 
Third

[[Page 1216]]

Proposed Rule Change, the Exchange no longer utilizes a comparison of 
its profit margin to that of other options exchanges as a basis that 
the Proposed Access Fees are reasonable. Rather, the Exchange has 
enhanced its cost and revenue analysis and data in this Third Proposed 
Rule Change to further justify that the Proposed Access Fees are 
reasonable in accordance with the Commission Staff's Guidance. 
Therefore, the Exchange believes it is no longer necessary to respond 
to this portion of the SIG Letter.
The Proposed Tiered Pricing Structure Is Not Unfairly Discriminatory
    SIG challenges the proposed fees by arguing that ``the Exchange[ ] 
provide[s] no support for [its] claim that [the] proposed tiered 
pricing structure is needed to encourage efficiency in connectivity 
usage and the Exchange[ ] provided no support for [the] claim that the 
tiered pricing structure allows them to better monitor connectivity 
usage, nor that this is an appropriate basis for the pricing structure 
in any event.'' The tiered pricing structure for Full Service MEO Ports 
is not a new proposal and has been in place since 2018, well prior to 
the filing of the First Proposed Rule Change. Nonetheless, the Exchange 
provided additional justification to support that the Proposed Access 
Fees are equitable and not unfairly discriminatory above in response to 
SIG's assertions.
Recoupment of Exchange Infrastructure Costs
    Nowhere in this proposal or in the First Proposed Rule Change did 
the Exchange assert that it benefits competition to allow a new 
exchange entrant to recoup their infrastructure costs. Rather, the 
Exchange asserts above that its ``proposed fees are reasonable, 
equitably allocated and not unfairly discriminatory because the 
Exchange, and its affiliates, are still recouping the initial 
expenditures from building out their systems while the legacy exchanges 
have already paid for and built their systems.'' The Exchange no longer 
makes this assertion in this filing and, therefore, does not believe is 
it necessary to respond to SIG's assertion here.
    Nonetheless, the Exchange notes that until recently it has operated 
at a net annual loss since it launched operations in 2017.\82\ This is 
a result of providing a low cost alternative to attract order flow and 
encourage market participants to experience the determinism and 
resiliency of the Exchange's trading systems. To do so, the Exchange 
chose to offer some non-transaction related services for little to no 
cost. This resulted in the Exchange forgoing revenue it could have 
generated from assessing higher fees. Further, a vast majority of the 
Exchange's Members, if not all, benefited from these lower fees. The 
Exchange could have sought to charge higher fees at the outset, but 
that could have served to discourage participation on the Exchange. 
Instead, the Exchange chose to provide a low cost exchange alternative 
to the options industry which resulted in lower initial revenues. The 
SIG Letter chose to ignore this reality and instead criticize the 
Exchange for initially charging lower fees or providing a moratorium on 
certain non-transaction fees to the benefit of all market participants. 
The Exchange is now trying to amend its fee structure to enable it to 
continue to maintain and improve its overall market and systems while 
also providing a highly reliable and deterministic trading system to 
the marketplace.
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    \82\ See supra note 44.
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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)(ii) of the Act,\83\ and Rule 19b-4(f)(2) \84\ 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 shall institute proceedings to determine whether 
the proposed rule should be approved or disapproved.
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    \83\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A)(ii).
    \84\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4(f)(2).
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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-PEARL-2021-58 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-PEARL-2021-58. 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-PEARL-2021-58 and should be submitted on 
or before January 31, 2022.
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    \85\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(12).

    For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets, 
pursuant to delegated authority.\85\
J. Matthew DeLesDernier,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2022-00153 Filed 1-7-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P
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