14056 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 48 / Friday, March 11, 2022 / Notices 

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

2 17 CFR 240.19b–4. 

3See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 93696 

(December 1, 2021), 86 FR 69306 (‘‘Notice’’). The 

comment letters received on the proposed rule 

change are available on the Commission’s website 

at: https://www.sec.gov/comments/sr-cboeedgx2021-049/srcboeedgx2021049.htm. 

4 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(2). 

5See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 94008, 

87 FR 4069 (January 26, 2022). The Commission 

designated March 7, 2022 as the date by which the 

Commission shall approve or disapprove, or 

institute proceedings to determine whether to 

disapprove, the proposed rule change. 

6 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(2)(B). 

7See Notice, supra note 3, at 69306. The 

Exchange states that it intends to submit a separate 

rule filing to adopt fees for the Short Volume Report 

product. See id. 

8See proposed Rule 13.8(h). In addition, the 

Exchange proposes to change the name of Rule 13.8 

from ‘‘EDGX Book Feeds’’ to ‘‘Data Products’’ and 

add a preamble to Rule 13.8 to conform to Cboe 

BZX Exchange, Inc. and Cboe BYX Exchange, Inc. 

Rule 11.22. See Notice, supra note 3, at 69306– 

69307. Specifically, the Exchange proposes to add 

language stating: ‘‘The Exchange offers the 

following data products free of charge, unless 

otherwise noted in the Exchange’s fee schedule.’’ 

See id. at 69307. 

9See id. at 69306. 10See id. 11Additionally, the Exchange proposes to make 

historical Short Volume Reports dating as far back 

as January 2, 2015 available for purchase on an ad 

hoc basis in monthly increments. According to the 

Exchange, the subscription files and historical files 

will include the same data points. See id. at 69306– 

07. 

12Specifically, the Exchange states that the 

Nasdaq daily short sale volume file reflects the 

aggregate number of shares executed on Nasdaq, 

Nasdaq BX, Inc. and Nasdaq PHLX LLC. According 

to the Exchange, the Nasdaq daily short volume 

report provides the following information: Trade 

date, symbol, volume during regular trading hours, 

and CTA market identifier. Additionally, the 

Exchange states that the NYSE Group Short Volume 

daily file reflects a summary of short sale volume 

for securities traded on NYSE, NYSE American 

LLC, NYSE Arca, Inc., NYSE National, Inc., and 

NYSE Chicago, Inc. According to the Exchange, the 

NYSE Group Short Volume product provides the 

following information: Trade date, symbol, short 

exempt volume, short volume, total volume all 

transactions, and market identifier. See id. at 69307. 

13See id. 

14See id. 

15See id. 

16See id. 

17See id. 

18See id. 

19See id. 

20Letter from R.T. Leuchtkafer to Vanessa 

Countryman, Secretary, Commission, dated 

December 27, 2021, at 2–3. 

21 Id. at 2. 

22 Id. 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–94369; File No. SR– 

CboeEDGX–2021–049] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; Cboe 

EDGX Exchange, Inc; Order Instituting 

Proceedings To Determine Whether To 

Approve or Disapprove a Proposed 

Rule Change To Introduce a New Data 

Product To Be Known as the Short 

Volume Report 

March 7, 2022. 

I. Introduction 

On November 17, 2021, Cboe EDGX 

Exchange, Inc. (‘‘EDGX’’ or ‘‘Exchange’’) 

filed with the Securities and Exchange 

Commission (‘‘Commission’’), pursuant 

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

Exchange Act of 1934 (‘‘Act’’) 1 and Rule 

19b–4 thereunder,2 a proposed rule 

change to amend Exchange Rule 13.8(h) 

to introduce a new data product to be 

known as the Short Volume Report. The 

proposed rule change was published for 

comment in the Federal Register on 

December 7, 2021.3 On January 20, 

2022, pursuant to Section 19(b)(2) of the 

Act,4 the Commission designated a 

longer period within which to approve 

the proposed rule change, disapprove 

the proposed rule change, or institute 

proceedings to determine whether to 

disapprove the proposed rule change.5

This order institutes proceedings 

pursuant to Section 19(b)(2)(B) of the 

Act 6 to determine whether to approve 

or disapprove the proposed rule change. 

II. Description of and Comments on the 

Proposed Rule Change 

A. Description of the Proposed Rule 

Change 

The Exchange proposes to amend 

Exchange Rule 13.8(h) to provide for a 

new data product to be known as the 

Short Volume Report, which will be 

available for purchase to Members and 

non-Members.7 Specifically, the 

Exchange proposes to describe the Short 

Volume Report as ‘‘an end-of-day report 

that summarizes equity trading activity 

on the Exchange, including trade count 

and volume by symbol for buy, sell, sell 

short, and sell short exempt trades.’’ 8

The Exchange proposes that the end-ofday report will include the following 

information: Trade date, symbol, total 

volume, buy volume, buy trade count, 

sell volume, sell trade count, sell short 

volume, sell short trade count, sell short 

exempt volume, and sell short exempt 

trade count.9 The Exchange proposes 

that the Short Volume Report will be 

available on a monthly subscription 

basis.10 The Exchange states subscribers 

will receive a daily end-of-day file that 

will be delivered after the conclusion of 

the Post-Closing Session.11

In support of the proposal, the 

Exchange states that the proposed 

product includes substantially similar 

information as that included in 

comparable products offered on the 

Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (‘‘Nasdaq’’) 

and the New York Stock Exchange 

(‘‘NYSE’’) except that the Exchange 

proposes to also include buy and sell 

volume as well as trade counts for buy, 

sell, sell short, and sell short exempt 

volume.12 The Exchange states that 

while the proposed product offers 

volume and trade counts which are not 

offered in the comparable NYSE and 

Nasdaq short sale volume reports, 

similar data is otherwise available or 

determinable in other NYSE data 

product offerings.13 Specifically, the 

Exchange states that the NYSE Trade 

and Quote (‘‘TAQ’’) product provides 

trade and quote information for orders 

entered on the NYSE affiliated equity 

exchanges, which include buy, sell, and 

sell short volume.14 Thus, according to 

the Exchange, subscribers to NYSE TAQ 

could determine volume and trade 

counts from such data.15 Additionally, 

the Exchange states that the NYSE 

Monthly Short Sales report provides a 

record of every short sale transaction on 

NYSE during the month, which 

includes a size and short sale 

indicator.16 Thus, according to the 

Exchange, subscribers to the NYSE 

Monthly Short Sales report could 

determine the sell short and sell short 

exempt volume and trade count, albeit 

on a monthly basis rather than a daily 

basis.17

The Exchange states that the 

additional data points will benefit 

market participants because they will 

allow market participants to better 

understand the changing risk 

environment on a daily basis.18 The 

Exchange states that the proposed Short 

Volume Report would further broaden 

the availability of U.S. equity market 

data to investors, promoting increased 

transparency and better informed 

trading, specifically by allowing market 

participants to identify the source of 

selling pressure and whether it is long 

or short.19

B. Comments on the Proposed Rule 

Change 

One commenter states that the 

proposed rule text and the Exchange’s 

description of the content of the 

proposed Short Volume Report are 

unclear.20 Specifically, the commenter 

states that the difference between ‘‘total 

volume’’ and ‘‘buy volume’’ is difficult 

to understand, ‘‘since every trade 

always includes a buyer.’’ 21 The 

commenter also states that the phrase 

‘‘buy and sell volume as well as trade 

counts for buy, sell, sell short, and sell 

short exempt volume’’ is confusing, and 

questions how, for example, buy volume 

for sell short exempt trades and sell 

volume for short exempt trades would 

be any different.22 The commenter 


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Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 48 / Friday, March 11, 2022 / Notices 14057 

23 Id. Specifically, the commenter states that ‘‘the 

phrase ‘buy and sell volume as well as trade counts 

for buy, sell, sell short, and sell short exempt 

volume’ makes more sense if understood as (a) 

‘buy[er-initiated] and sell[er-initiated] volume as 

well as trade counts for buy, sell, sell short, and sell 

short exempt volume’ or (b) ‘buy [order] and sell 

[order] volume as well as trade counts for buy, sell, 

sell short, and sell short exempt volume.’ ’’ Id. 

24 Id. at 2–3. For example, the commenter states 

that listed companies and investors may want to 

comment to the extent that the proposed Short 

Volume Report is intended to convey to high 

frequency trading firms, on a daily basis for every 

stock, the level of aggressive short selling or short 

sale order volume. Id. 

25 Id. at 1, 5–6. 

26 Id. at 2–4. 

27 Id. at 3–4. 

28 Id. This commenter also submitted a second 

comment letter which objects to certain redactions 

made to the commenter’s first letter, stating that the 

redactions diminished the commenter’s ‘‘pointed 

criticism[s]’’ of the Commission’s performance in 

reviewing the proposal. See letter from R.T. 

Leuchtkafer to Vanessa Countryman, Secretary, 

Commission, dated January 4, 2022. 

29Letter from Sean McComiskie, dated February 

11, 2022. 

30 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(2)(B). 

31 Id. 

32 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5). 

33 17 CFR 240.19b–4. 

34Section 19(b)(2) of the Act, as amended by the 

Securities Acts Amendments of 1975, Public Law 

94–29 (June 4, 1975), grants to the Commission 

flexibility to determine what type of proceeding— 

either oral or notice and opportunity for written 

comments—is appropriate for consideration of a 

particular proposal by a self-regulatory 

organization. See Securities Acts Amendments of 

1975, Senate Comm. on Banking, Housing & Urban 

Affairs, S. Rep. No. 75, 94th Cong., 1st Sess. 30 

(1975). 

states that in order to be sensible ‘‘buy 

and sell volume’’ must either mean 

simply ‘‘trade volume’’ or else it 

describes splitting out buyer and sellerinitiated trade volume or total buy and 

sell order volume.23 The commenter 

states that ‘‘the public deserves to be 

told’’ with greater clarity what data the 

proposed Short Volume Report contains 

and ‘‘deserves a chance to comment 

before approval.’’ 24 In addition, the 

commenter states that the proposal 

could involve the provision and sale of 

‘‘sensitive’’ or ‘‘regulatory’’ data and 

could reveal ‘‘quite a bit about who is 

doing what in the markets.’’ 25

This commenter also states that the 

data contained in the proposed Short 

Volume Report is substantially different 

from the data contained in products 

offered by other national securities 

exchanges, despite the Exchange’s 

assertion that the proposed Short 

Volume Report is similar to those 

products.26 Specifically, the commenter 

states that the Exchange’s description of 

the NYSE TAQ data that it points to as 

precedent is inaccurate.27 According to 

the commenter, contrary to the 

Exchange’s statements in the proposal, 

the TAQ data does not contain 

information that would enable 

subscribers to determine short sale 

volume or trade counts.28

Another commenter states that the 

proposal is ‘‘worded in a way to 

convince regulators to change the name 

of the regulation in an attempt to 

conceal its actual meaning’’ and that 

this ‘‘further[s] various entities agendas 

to keep in the moment, pertinent public 

information hidden.’’ 29

III. Proceedings To Determine Whether 

To Approve or Disapprove SR– 

CboeEDGX–2021–049 and Grounds for 

Disapproval Under Consideration 

The Commission is instituting 

proceedings pursuant to Section 

19(b)(2)(B) of the Act 30 to determine 

whether the proposed rule change 

should be approved or disapproved. 

Institution of proceedings is appropriate 

at this time in view of the legal and 

policy issues raised by the proposal. 

Institution of proceedings does not 

indicate that the Commission has 

reached any conclusions with respect to 

any of the issues involved. Rather, as 

described below, the Commission seeks 

and encourages interested persons to 

provide additional comment on the 

proposed rule change to inform the 

Commission’s analysis of whether to 

approve or disapprove the proposed 

rule change. 

Pursuant to Section 19(b)(2)(B) of the 

Act,31 the Commission is providing 

notice of the grounds for disapproval 

under consideration. As described 

above, the Exchange has proposed to 

amend its rules to provide for a new 

data product to be known as the Short 

Volume Report. The Commission has 

received comment letters that express 

concerns regarding the content of the 

proposed Short Volume Report, 

including the clarity of the Exchange’s 

description of the proposed product. 

The Commission is instituting 

proceedings to allow for additional 

analysis of, and input from commenters 

with respect to, the consistency of the 

proposal with Section 6(b)(5) 32 of the 

Act. Section 6(b)(5) of the Act requires 

that the rules of a national securities 

exchange be designed, among other 

things, 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 not be designed to 

permit unfair discrimination between 

customers, issuers, brokers, or dealers. 

V. Procedure: Request for Written 

Comments 

The Commission requests that 

interested persons provide written 

submissions of their data, views, and 

arguments with respect to the issues 

identified above, as well as any other 

concerns they may have with the 

proposal. In particular, the Commission 

invites the written views of interested 

persons concerning whether the 

proposed rule change is consistent with 

Section 6(b)(5) or any other provision of 

the Act, or the rules and regulations 

thereunder. Although there do not 

appear to be any issues relevant to 

approval or disapproval that would be 

facilitated by an oral presentation of 

data, views, and arguments, the 

Commission will consider, pursuant to 

Rule 19b–4 under the Act,33 any request 

for an opportunity to make an oral 

presentation.34

Interested persons are invited to 

submit written data, views, and 

arguments regarding whether the 

proposed rule change should be 

approved or disapproved by April 1, 

2022. Any person who wishes to file a 

rebuttal to any other person’s 

submission must file that rebuttal by 

April 15, 2022. 

The Commission asks that 

commenters address the sufficiency of 

the Exchange’s statements in support of 

the proposal, and any other issues 

raised by the proposed rule change 

under the Act. In particular, the 

Commission seeks commenters’ views 

regarding whether the Exchange has 

adequately described the proposed new 

data product for the Commission to 

make a determination under Section 

6(b)(5) of the Act. 

Comments may be submitted by any 

of the following methods: 

Electronic Comments 

• Use the Commission’s internet 

comment form (http://www.sec.gov/ 

rules/sro.shtml); or 

• Send an email to rule-comments@

sec.gov. Please include File No. SR– 

CboeEDGX–2021–049 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 No. 

SR–CboeEDGX–2021–049. The 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 


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14058 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 48 / Friday, March 11, 2022 / Notices 

35 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12); 17 CFR 200.30– 

3(a)(57). 

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

2 17 CFR 240.19b–4. 

3See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 93694 

(December 1, 2021), 86 FR 69299 (‘‘Notice’’). The 

comment letters received on the proposed rule 

change are available on the Commission’s website 

at: https://www.sec.gov/comments/sr-cboeedga2021-025/srcboeedga2021025.htm. 

4 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(2). 

5See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 94007, 

87 FR 4072 (January 26, 2022). The Commission 

designated March 7, 2022 as the date by which the 

Commission shall approve or disapprove, or 

institute proceedings to determine whether to 

disapprove, the proposed rule change. 

6 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(2)(B). 

7See Notice, supra note 3, at 69299. The 

Exchange states that it intends to submit a separate 

rule filing to adopt fees for the Short Volume Report 

product. See id. at 69300. 

8See proposed Rule 13.8(h). In addition, the 

Exchange proposes to change the name of Rule 13.8 

from ‘‘EDGA Book Feeds’’ to ‘‘Data Products’’ and 

add a preamble to Rule 13.8 to conform to Cboe 

BZX Exchange, Inc. and Cboe BYX Exchange, Inc. 

Rule 11.22. See Notice, supra note 3, at 69299– 

69300. Specifically, the Exchange proposes to add 

language stating: ‘‘The Exchange offers the 

following data products free of charge, unless 

otherwise noted in the Exchange’s fee schedule.’’ 

See id. at 69300. 

9See id. at 69299. 10See id. at 69300. 11Additionally, the Exchange proposes to make 

historical Short Volume Reports dating as far back 

as January 2, 2015 available for purchase on an ad 

hoc basis in monthly increments. According to the 

Exchange, the subscription files and historical files 

will include the same data points. See id. 

12Specifically, the Exchange states that the 

Nasdaq daily short sale volume file reflects the 

aggregate number of shares executed on Nasdaq, 

Nasdaq BX, Inc. and Nasdaq PHLX LLC. According 

to the Exchange, the Nasdaq daily short volume 

report provides the following information: Trade 

date, symbol, volume during regular trading hours, 

and CTA market identifier. Additionally, the 

Exchange states that the NYSE Group Short Volume 

daily file reflects a summary of short sale volume 

for securities traded on NYSE, NYSE American 

LLC, NYSE Arca, Inc., NYSE National, Inc., and 

NYSE Chicago, Inc. According to the Exchange, the 

NYSE Group Short Volume product provides the 

following information: Trade date, symbol, short 

exempt volume, short volume, total volume all 

transactions, and market identifier. See id. 

13See id. 

14See id. 

15See id. 

16See id. 

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 No. 

SR–CboeEDGX–2021–049 and should be 

submitted by April 1, 2022. Rebuttal 

comments should be submitted by April 

15, 2022. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated 

authority.35

J. Matthew DeLesDernier, 

Assistant Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2022–05146 Filed 3–10–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–94367; File No. SR– 

CboeEDGA–2021–025] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; Cboe 

EDGA Exchange, Inc.; Order Instituting 

Proceedings To Determine Whether To 

Approve or Disapprove a Proposed 

Rule Change To Introduce a New Data 

Product To Be Known as the Short 

Volume Report 

March 7, 2022. 

I. Introduction 

On November 17, 2021, Cboe EDGA 

Exchange, Inc. (‘‘EDGA’’ or ‘‘Exchange’’) 

filed with the Securities and Exchange 

Commission (‘‘Commission’’), pursuant 

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

Exchange Act of 1934 (‘‘Act’’) 1 and Rule 

19b–4 thereunder,2 a proposed rule 

change to amend Exchange Rule 13.8(h) 

to introduce a new data product to be 

known as the Short Volume Report. The 

proposed rule change was published for 

comment in the Federal Register on 

December 7, 2021.3 On January 20, 

2022, pursuant to Section 19(b)(2) of the 

Act,4 the Commission designated a 

longer period within which to approve 

the proposed rule change, disapprove 

the proposed rule change, or institute 

proceedings to determine whether to 

disapprove the proposed rule change.5

This order institutes proceedings 

pursuant to Section 19(b)(2)(B) of the 

Act 6 to determine whether to approve 

or disapprove the proposed rule change. 

II. Description of and Comments on the 

Proposed Rule Change 

A. Description of the Proposed Rule 

Change 

The Exchange proposes to amend 

Exchange Rule 13.8(h) to provide for a 

new data product to be known as the 

Short Volume Report, which will be 

available for purchase to Members and 

non-Members.7 Specifically, the 

Exchange proposes to describe the Short 

Volume Report as ‘‘an end-of-day report 

that summarizes equity trading activity 

on the Exchange, including trade count 

and volume by symbol for buy, sell, sell 

short, and sell short exempt trades.’’ 8

The Exchange proposes that the end-ofday report will include the following 

information: Trade date, symbol, total 

volume, buy volume, buy trade count, 

sell volume, sell trade count, sell short 

volume, sell short trade count, sell short 

exempt volume, and sell short exempt 

trade count.9 The Exchange proposes 

that the Short Volume Report will be 

available on a monthly subscription 

basis.10 The Exchange states subscribers 

will receive a daily end-of-day file that 

will be delivered after the conclusion of 

the Post-Closing Session.11

In support of the proposal, the 

Exchange states that the proposed 

product includes substantially similar 

information as that included in 

comparable products offered on the 

Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (‘‘Nasdaq’’) 

and the New York Stock Exchange 

(‘‘NYSE’’) except that the Exchange 

proposes to also include buy and sell 

volume as well as trade counts for buy, 

sell, sell short, and sell short exempt 

volume.12 The Exchange states that 

while the proposed product offers 

volume and trade counts which are not 

offered in the comparable NYSE and 

Nasdaq short sale volume reports, 

similar data is otherwise available or 

determinable in other NYSE data 

product offerings.13 Specifically, the 

Exchange states that the NYSE Trade 

and Quote (‘‘TAQ’’) product provides 

trade and quote information for orders 

entered on the NYSE affiliated equity 

exchanges, which include buy, sell, and 

sell short volume.14 Thus, according to 

the Exchange, subscribers to NYSE TAQ 

could determine volume and trade 

counts from such data.15 Additionally, 

the Exchange states that the NYSE 

Monthly Short Sales report provides a 

record of every short sale transaction on 

NYSE during the month, which 

includes a size and short sale 

indicator.16 Thus, according to the 

Exchange, subscribers to the NYSE 

Monthly Short Sales report could 

determine the sell short and sell short 


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