Document ID: SEC-2019-0173-0001
Agency: sec
Document Type: Notice
Title: Self-Regulatory Organizations; Proposed Rule Changes: The Nasdaq Stock Market, LLC
Posted Date: 2019-02-21T05:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 35 (Thursday, February 21, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5528-5532]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-02892]

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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

[Release No. 34-85132; File No. SR-NASDAQ-2019-003]

Self-Regulatory Organizations; The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC; 
Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change 
To Amend the Exchange's Provisions for Excluding a Day From Its Volume 
Calculations for Purposes of Determining Tiered Pricing

February 14, 2019.
    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 January 31, 2019, The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (``Nasdaq'' or 
``Exchange'') filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission 
(``SEC'' or ``Commission'') the proposed rule change as described in 
Items I and II, 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 proposes to amend the Exchange's provisions for 
excluding a day from its volume calculations for purposes of 
determining tiered pricing.
    The text of the proposed rule change is available on the Exchange's 
website at http://nasdaq.cchwallstreet.com/, at the principal office of 
the Exchange, and at the Commission's Public Reference Room.

II. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Purpose of, and 
Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule Change

    In its filing with the Commission, the 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.

[[Page 5529]]

A. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Purpose of, and 
Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule Change

1. Purpose
    The purpose of the proposed rule change is to amend the Exchange's 
provisions for excluding a day from its volume calculations for 
purposes of determining tiered pricing. The Exchange is standardizing 
its practice for removing a day from its options volume calculations 
with its affiliated options market, Nasdaq PHLX (``Phlx'').\3\
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    \3\ See Phlx pricing schedule, Options 7, Section 1(b). The 
Exchange's other affiliated options markets, Nasdaq ISE, Nasdaq 
GEMX, Nasdaq MRX, and Nasdaq BX will also file similar rule change 
proposals to conform to Phlx's rule.
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    To avoid penalizing members when aberrant low volume days result 
from systems or other issues at the Exchange, or where the Exchange 
closes early for holiday observance, NOM currently has language in its 
pricing schedule allowing it to exclude certain days from its average 
daily volume (``ADV'') or other volume calculations.\4\ Currently, 
language in Options 7, Section 2(5) provides that, for purposes of 
determining Monthly Volume Tiers under this section, any day that the 
market is not open for the entire trading day will be excluded from 
such calculation. The Exchange now proposes to amend this provision by 
first, renumbering this rule as paragraph (a) to Section 2(5) and 
second, replacing the term ``Monthly Volume Tiers'' with ``equity tier 
calculations'' to clarify the application of its rule.\5\ The Exchange 
also proposes to adopt language similar to that on Phlx, which will 
apply to the options tier calculations in the NOM pricing schedule.\6\ 
Specifically, the Exchange proposes to adopt a new paragraph (b) to 
Section 2(5), entitled ``Removal of Days for Purposes of Options 
Pricing Tiers,'' which will provide:
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    \4\ Other volume calculations include certain cross-asset volume 
tiers that link rebates on NOM to activity on the Nasdaq Stock 
Market such as the Tier 6 Customer and Professional Rebate to Add 
Liquidity in Penny Pilot Options. See Options 7, Section 2(1).
    \5\ Because the Exchange is conforming its practice for options 
markets only, the current language will remain in place for the 
equity tier calculations in the NOM pricing schedule such as the 
Tier 6 Customer and Professional Rebate to Add Liquidity in Penny 
Pilot Options described in note 4 above, with the clarifying 
modifications discussed above.
    \6\ See note 3 above.

    (i)(A) Any day that the Exchange announces in advance that it 
will not be open for trading will be excluded from the options tier 
calculations set forth in its Pricing Schedule; and (B) any day with 
a scheduled early market close (``Scheduled Early Close'') may be 
excluded from the options tier calculations only pursuant to 
paragraph (iii) below.
    (ii) The Exchange may exclude the following days 
(``Unanticipated Events'') from the options tier calculations only 
pursuant to paragraph (iii) below, specifically any day that:
    (A) The market is not open for the entire trading day, (B) the 
Exchange instructs Participants in writing to route their orders to 
other markets, (C) the Exchange is inaccessible to Participants 
during the 30-minute period before the opening of trade due to an 
Exchange system disruption, or (D) the Exchange's system experiences 
a disruption that lasts for more than 60 minutes during regular 
trading hours.
    (iii) If a day is to be excluded as a result of paragraph (i)(B) 
or (ii) above, the Exchange will exclude the day from any 
Participant's monthly options tier calculations as follows:
    (A) The Exchange may exclude from the ADV calculation any 
Scheduled Early Close or Unanticipated Event; and
    (B) the Exchange may exclude from any other applicable options 
tier calculation provided for in its Pricing Schedule (together with 
(iii)(A), ``Tier Calculations'') any Scheduled Early Close or 
Unanticipated Event.

provided, in each case, that the Exchange will only remove the day for 
Participants that would have a lower Tier Calculation with the day 
included.
    While similar to the language currently in place on the Exchange, 
the proposed language: (1) Provides greater flexibility to remove a day 
in more circumstances, (2) categorizes the potential excluded days into 
days that are known in advance (i.e., days in proposed paragraph (i), 
including Scheduled Early Closes), and those that are not (i.e., 
Unanticipated Events in proposed paragraph (ii)), and (3) modifies the 
provision so that Participants will only have the day removed when 
doing so is beneficial for the Participant (i.e., only if the 
Participant would have a lower volume tier calculation with the day 
included, hereinafter, the ``better of rule''). As it relates to 
Unanticipated Events, the Exchange will inform all Participants if any 
such day will be excluded from its Tier Calculations via a system 
status message disseminated to all Participants. The Exchange notes 
that it is not proposing to amend the thresholds a Participant must 
achieve to become eligible for, or the dollar amount associated with, 
the tiered rebates or fees.
Potential Excluded Days
    The Exchange first proposes to adopt language identical to Phlx 
providing that it will always exclude days where the Exchange announces 
in advance that it will not be open for trading (e.g., Thanksgiving) 
from all options tier calculations set forth in its Pricing 
Schedule.\7\ This is also the case today since no trading activity 
occurs on those days, and the Exchange is only clarifying its current 
practice within the proposed rule.
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    \7\ See id. at paragraph (1)(A).
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    In addition, Phlx adopted the language on instructing members to 
route away to prevent situations where days that have artificially 
lower volume could not be excluded, for example, because the exchange 
experienced an issue in the morning that did not carry over into the 
trading day.\8\ Like Phlx, the Exchange believes that it should have 
the flexibility to exclude days if members have been instructed to send 
their orders elsewhere, regardless of whether the issue that resulted 
in this instruction ultimately impacts the availability of the Exchange 
for trading.
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    \8\ See id. at paragraph (2)(B).
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    In addition, the Exchange proposes to adopt identical language as 
on Phlx to exclude days where the Exchange is inaccessible to 
Participants during the 30-minute period before the opening of trade 
(i.e., between 9:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time) due to an Exchange 
system disruption.\9\ While the language proposed above on instructing 
Participants to route away may also cover Exchange system disruptions 
that occur before the market opens, the Exchange notes that it may not 
always instruct Participants to route away in such instances. For 
example, the Exchange may be inaccessible to Participants in the 
morning due to a systems disruption but the Exchange resolves the issue 
shortly before 9:30 a.m. and as a result, the Exchange does not 
instruct Participants to route away. In this instance, the Exchange 
would not be permitted to exclude the day from its volume calculations. 
The Exchange generally experiences a high volume of member 
participation within the 30-minute window leading up to the opening of 
trade from Participants who submit eligible interest to be included in 
the Exchange's opening process. As a result, days where Participants 
are precluded from submitting eligible interest during this 30-minute 
time period due to an Exchange systems disruption, even if the issue is 
ultimately resolved by the Exchange before the market opens (and 
Participants therefore are not instructed to route away), are likely to 
have lower trading volume. Including such days in calculations of ADV 
will therefore make it more difficult for Participants to achieve 
particular pricing tiers for that

[[Page 5530]]

month. Accordingly, excluding such days from the monthly tier 
calculations will diminish the likelihood of a cost increase occurring 
because a Participant is not able to reach a pricing tier on that date 
that it would reach on other trading days during the month.
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    \9\ See id. at paragraph (2)(C).
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    The Exchange further proposes to adopt language identical to Phlx 
to exclude days where there is an Exchange system disruption that lasts 
for more than 60 minutes during regular trading hours (i.e., 9:30 a.m. 
to 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time), even if such disruption would not be 
categorized as a complete outage of the Exchange's system.\10\ Such a 
disruption may occur where a certain options series traded on the 
Exchange is unavailable for trading due to an Exchange systems issue, 
or where the Exchange may be able to perform certain functions with 
respect to accepting and processing orders, but may have a failure to 
another significant process, such as routing to other market centers, 
that would lead Participants who rely on such processes to avoid using 
the Exchange until the Exchange's entire system was operational. The 
Exchange believes that certain system disruptions that are not complete 
system outages could preclude some members from submitting orders to 
the Exchange. The Exchange also notes that this proposal is consistent 
with the rules of other options exchanges.\11\
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    \10\ See id. at paragraph 2(D).
    \11\ See BATS BZX Options Exchange Fee Schedule (defining an 
``Exchange System Disruption'' as any day that the exchange's system 
experiences a disruption that lasts for more than 60 minutes during 
regular trading hours); and NYSE Arca Options Fee Schedule (defining 
an ``Exchange System Disruption'' as a disruption affects an 
Exchange system that lasts for more than 60 minutes during regular 
trading hours).
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    Because the potential excluded days proposed above generally have 
artificially lower trading volume, the Exchange believes it is 
reasonable and equitable to exclude such days in determining its 
options fee and rebate tiers. The Exchange desires to avoid penalizing 
Participants that might otherwise qualify for certain tiered pricing 
but that, because of special circumstances on a particular day, did not 
participate on the Exchange to the extent that they might have 
otherwise participated. Absent the authority to exclude such days, 
Participants may experience an effective increase in the cost of 
trading on NOM, a result that is both unintended and undesirable to the 
Exchange and to its Participants.
Categories of Excluded Days
    In light of the foregoing proposal, the Exchange seeks to 
categorize the potential excluded days proposed above between days that 
are known in paragraph (i) and days that are not in paragraph (ii), and 
define the latter as Unanticipated Events. For planned days, the 
Exchange proposes to further distinguish between days that the Exchange 
announces in advance that it will not be open for trading in paragraph 
(i)(A) (e.g., Thanksgiving), and Scheduled Early Closes in paragraph 
(ii)(B) (e.g., the trading day after Thanksgiving). The Exchange notes 
that it currently considers Scheduled Early Closes as a subset of days 
that the market is not open for the entire trading day. The Exchange 
believes it would be more clear to distinguish Scheduled Early Closes 
in paragraph (i) as a day that is planned for in advance, and 
separately consider days that are not open for the entire trading day 
as Unanticipated Events in paragraph (ii)(A). As proposed, (ii)(A) 
would continue to cover unplanned days where the Exchange declares a 
trading halt in all securities or honors a market-wide trading halt 
declared by another market. The other scenarios that will be 
categorized as Unanticipated Events in paragraph (ii) are days that the 
Exchange instructs members in writing to route away and the two 
systems-related disruptions, each as further described above. The 
foregoing proposal is consistent with how Phlx categorizes potential 
excluded days today.\12\
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    \12\ See note 3 above at paragraphs (1) and (2).
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Better of Rule
    Similar to Phlx, the proposed language also specifies how the 
potential excluded days will be removed from the Exchange's volume 
calculations. In particular, the language will allow the Exchange to 
exclude any Scheduled Early Close or Unanticipated Event from its 
calculations of ADV or any other applicable options volume tiers 
provided for in its Pricing Schedule, provided that the Exchange will 
only remove such days for Participants that would have a lower volume 
calculation with the day included (i.e., the better of rule).\13\
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    \13\ Phlx similarly excludes Scheduled Early Closes and 
Unanticipated Events from its ADV calculations and other applicable 
volume calculations in its pricing schedule, subject in each case to 
the better of rule. See note 3 above at paragraph (3).
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    Phlx adopted the better of rule to avoid penalizing members that 
step up and trade on days with artificially low volume so that it only 
excludes such days for members that would have a lower volume 
calculation with the day included. This language would also be helpful 
on the Exchange as it would ensure that Participants that continue to 
execute a large volume of contracts are not inadvertently disadvantaged 
when the Exchange removes a day from its volume calculations. 
Furthermore, Phlx adopted the catch-all provision applying to other 
options tier calculations set forth in its pricing schedule, but not 
specified within paragraph (3) of its rule, so that it would have 
flexibility to apply the better of rule going forward to all options 
pricing programs administered by the Exchange that are based on volume 
calculations.\14\ The Exchange believes that adopting a similar 
principle-based approach for its options volume calculations would 
ensure that days are removed from such calculations only if doing so 
would be beneficial for the Participant. As such, the proposed language 
will not apply to straight volume accumulations as Participants do not 
benefit when a day is removed for such accumulations. Again, the 
Exchange believes that the approach of Phlx would be beneficial as it 
counts volume executed during an excluded day toward its members' 
straight volume accumulations.
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    \14\ See id. at paragraph (3)(C).
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    In addition, the Exchange proposes to harmonize its language with 
Phlx's language by adding further detail throughout the proposed rule 
text to bring greater transparency as to how the Exchange will apply 
the better of rule when removing days from its tier calculations. 
First, the Exchange proposes to make clear that it will only remove 
days pursuant to the better of rule by specifying in paragraphs (i)(B) 
and (ii) that such days may be excluded from the tier calculations only 
pursuant to paragraph (iii).\15\ Paragraph (iii) will then provide that 
if a day is to be excluded as a result of paragraph (i)(B) or (ii), the 
Exchange will be required to exclude the day from any Participant's 
monthly options tier calculations as detailed within paragraph 
(iii).\16\ With the proposed changes, the Exchange seeks to clarify 
that it will exclude days from any Participant's tier calculations in a 
uniform manner to ensure that days are removed only in situations where 
the Participant benefits. The Exchange will look at each potential 
excluded day in a month and determine for every Participant their ADV 
or other applicable volume calculation based on their trading volume on 
that day. If any Participant would have a lower volume calculation with 
the particular day included, the Exchange will exclude that day for 
that Participant. As such,

[[Page 5531]]

the proposed changes specify that the Exchange will apply the better of 
rule in a uniform manner for all Participants, and that there is no 
arbitrary selection of ``winners'' or ``losers'' when the Exchange 
excludes days.
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    \15\ See id. at paragraphs (1)(B) and (2) for similar language 
on Phlx.
    \16\ See id. at paragraph (3) for similar language on Phlx.
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Equity 7, Section 118
    In light of the foregoing proposal to amend the provisions for 
removing days in Options 7, Section 2, the Exchange proposes to make 
related changes to its current provisions for removing days in Equity 
7, Section 118. Currently, the Exchange has a number of cross-asset 
volume tiers in its equity pricing schedule, which link reduced 
transaction fees on the Nasdaq Stock Market to activity on NOM,\17\ 
similar to the rebate tiers on NOM that link to activity on the Nasdaq 
Stock Market as discussed above.\18\ Furthermore, the Exchange has 
language in Equity 7, Section 118(j) allowing it to exclude certain 
days from the volume calculations in its equity pricing schedule.\19\ 
The Exchange now seeks to amend Section 118(j) to make clear that this 
language will continue to apply to the equity tier calculations within 
Section 118, and the language proposed in Options 7, Section 2(5)(b) 
will apply to the options tier calculations in Section 118.\20\
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    \17\ For example, Nasdaq charges a reduced transaction fee of 
$0.0029 per share if the member adds Customer, Professional, Firm, 
Non-NOM Market Maker and/or Broker-Dealer liquidity in Penny Pilot 
Options and/or Non- Penny Pilot Options of 1.15% or more of total 
industry ADV in the customer clearing range for Equity and ETF 
option contracts per day in a month on NOM. See Equity 7, Section 
118(a)(1).
    \18\ See note 4 above. Also, for example, footnote ``e'' of the 
NOM pricing schedule provides that NOM Participants that transact in 
all securities through one or more of its Nasdaq Market Center MPIDs 
that represent 3.00% or more of Consolidated Volume in the same 
month on The Nasdaq Stock Market will receive a $0.52 per contract 
rebate to add liquidity in Penny Pilot Options as Customer or 
Professional and $1.00 per contract rebate to add liquidity in Non-
Penny Pilot Options as Customer or Professional. See Options 7, 
Section 2(1).
    \19\ In particular, Section 118(j) presently provides that, for 
purposes of determining average daily volume and total consolidated 
volume under this section, any day that the market is not open for 
the entire trading day will be excluded from such calculation. In 
addition, for purposes of calculating Consolidated Volume and the 
extent of a member's trading activity, expressed as a percentage of 
or ratio to Consolidated Volume, the date of the annual 
reconstitution of the Russell Investments Indexes shall be excluded 
from both total Consolidated Volume and the member's trading 
activity.
    \20\ See note 17 above.
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2. Statutory Basis
    The Exchange believes that its proposal is consistent with Section 
6(b) of the Act,\21\ in general, and furthers the objectives of 
Sections 6(b)(4) and 6(b)(5) of the Act,\22\ in particular, in that it 
provides for the equitable allocation of reasonable dues, fees and 
other charges among members and issuers and other persons using any 
facility, and is not designed to permit unfair discrimination between 
customers, issuers, brokers, or dealers.
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    \21\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b).
    \22\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(4) and (5).
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    The Exchange believes that the proposed rule change is reasonable 
and equitable as it provides a new framework for removing days from the 
Exchange's options volume tier calculations that the Exchange believes 
is beneficial to Participants and consistent with similar provisions 
already in place on Phlx. The proposed rule change would allow the 
Exchange to remove a day from its options volume calculations in more 
circumstances, and ensures that the Exchange will only do so in 
circumstances where beneficial for the Participant. The Exchange 
believes that it is reasonable and equitable to exclude a day from its 
volume calculations when Participants are instructed to route their 
orders to other markets as this preserves the Exchange's intent behind 
adopting volume-based pricing, and avoids penalizing Participants that 
follow this instruction.
    The Exchange similarly believes it is reasonable and equitable to 
exclude a day from its volume calculations when the Exchange's system 
experiences a disruption during the 30-minute period prior to the 
opening of trade which renders the Exchange inaccessible to 
Participants. Without this change, Participants that are precluded from 
submitting eligible interest during the 30-minute window before the 
opening of trade may be negatively impacted, even if the Exchange 
resolves the issue before the market opens and as a result, does not 
instruct Participants to route away. The proposed change to exclude 
such days will diminish the likelihood of a cost increase occurring 
because a member is not able to reach a volume tier calculation on that 
date that it would reach on other trading days during the month.
    Similarly, excluding a day where the Exchange's system experiences 
a disruption that lasts for more than 60 minutes intra-day is 
reasonable and equitable because the proposal seeks to avoid penalizing 
Participants that might otherwise qualify for certain tiered pricing 
but that, because of an Exchange systems disruption, did not 
participate on the Exchange to the extent they might have otherwise 
participated. The Exchange believes that certain systems disruptions 
could preclude some Participants from submitting orders to the Exchange 
even if such issue is not actually a complete systems outage.
    In addition, the Exchange believes that it is reasonable and 
equitable to only exclude a day from its volume calculations for 
Participants that would otherwise have a lower volume calculation with 
the day included. Without these changes, Participants that route away 
in accordance with the Exchange's instructions, or that step up and 
trade significant volume on excluded trading days, may be negatively 
impacted, resulting in an effective cost increase for those 
Participants. In addition, having a catch-all in paragraph (iii)(B) so 
that the better of rule applies to other options volume calculations 
than ADV to allow the Exchange to apply the rule going forward to all 
pricing programs based on volume calculations will further protect 
Participants. The Exchange notes that aberrant low volume days 
resulting from, for instance, an Unanticipated Event, impacts all 
volume calculations, and allowing the Exchange to exclude such days 
from any volume tier calculation if the Participant would have a lower 
tier calculation with the day included will further protect 
Participants from being inadvertently penalized.
    Furthermore, the Exchange believes that categorizing the potential 
excluded days is reasonable and equitable because it will bring greater 
transparency to the application of its rule. Specifically, the Exchange 
is distinguishing between planned and unplanned days in paragraphs (i) 
and (ii), defining the latter as Unanticipated Events, and stipulating 
how the Exchange will exclude such days pursuant to this rule. 
Categorizing days in this manner will clarify the application of its 
rule in light of the Exchange's proposal to expand the rule to adopt 
additional days that may be excluded from its volume calculations. 
Providing in paragraph (i)(A) that the Exchange will always exclude 
from its tier calculations days that it announces in advance it will 
not be open for trading will clarify current practice. Furthermore, the 
Exchange believes that the proposed changes to specify how days in 
paragraphs (i)(B) and (ii) may be excluded from its volume calculations 
will bring greater transparency by delineating the various 
circumstances in which the better of rule will apply. Providing in 
paragraph (iii) that the Exchange may exclude any Scheduled Early Close 
or Unanticipated Event from the Tier Calculations, subject to the 
better of rule, will make clear that the Exchange will take a 
consistent

[[Page 5532]]

approach when excluding days for purposes of its volume based pricing 
tiers. Furthermore, the proposed changes specifying that the days in 
paragraphs (i)(B) and (ii) may be excluded only pursuant to paragraph 
(iii), and requiring the Exchange to exclude such days pursuant to the 
specifications in paragraph (iii) will likewise make clear that the 
Exchange will take a consistent approach with respect to excluding days 
from its Tier Calculations. As discussed above, these modifications 
will clarify that the Exchange will apply the better of rule in a 
uniform manner to all Participants, and that there is no arbitrary 
selection of ``winners'' or ``losers.''
    The Exchange also believes that specifying in its equity and 
options pricing schedules that the proposed rule for excluding days in 
Options 7, Section 2(5)(b) applies only to options tier calculations, 
and that the current rules for excluding days \23\ continue to apply to 
the equity tier calculations is reasonable and equitable. As discussed 
above, the Exchange has a number of cross-asset tiers within its equity 
and options pricing schedule,\24\ and believes that the proposed 
changes will clarify the application of the Exchange's provisions for 
excluding days in light of the Exchange's initiative to standardize its 
practice across the options markets.
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    \23\ See Equity 7, Section 118(j) and Options 7, Section 
2(5)(a).
    \24\ See notes 4, 17, and 18 above.
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    Finally, the Exchange believes that the proposed rule change is not 
unfairly discriminatory because it will apply equally to all Exchange 
members that transact on the Nasdaq Stock Market and on NOM. Nasdaq 
Stock Market members that are not currently Participants on NOM are 
eligible to become Participants by amending their membership 
application to add NOM. Moreover, the Exchange notes that any NOM 
Participant may trade equities on the Nasdaq Stock Market because they 
are already approved members.

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

    The Exchange does not believe that the proposed rule change will 
impose any burden on competition not necessary or appropriate in 
furtherance of the purposes of the Act. The proposed rule change is 
designed to protect Participants from the possibility of a cost 
increase by excluding days when overall participation might be 
significantly lower than a typical trading day. The Exchange believes 
that the proposed modifications to its tier calculations are pro-
competitive and will result in lower total costs to end users, a 
positive outcome of competitive markets. Furthermore, other options 
exchanges have adopted rules that are substantially similar to the 
Exchange's proposal.\25\
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    \25\ See notes 3 and 11 above.
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    The Exchange operates in a highly competitive market in which 
market participants can readily direct their order flow to competing 
venues. In such an environment, the Exchange must continually review, 
and consider adjusting, its fees and rebates to remain competitive with 
other exchanges. For the reasons described above, the Exchange believes 
that the proposed fee changes reflect this competitive environment.

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

    No written comments were either solicited or received.

III. Date of Effectiveness of the Proposed Rule Change and Timing for 
Commission Action

    The foregoing rule change has become effective pursuant to Section 
19(b)(3)(A)(ii) of the Act \26\ and paragraph (f) of Rule 19b-4 
thereunder.\27\ 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.
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    \26\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A)(ii).
    \27\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4(f).
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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 rule-comments@sec.gov. Please include 
File Number SR-NASDAQ-2019-003 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-NASDAQ-2019-003. 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-NASDAQ-2019-003, and should be submitted 
on or before March 14, 2019.

    For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets, 
pursuant to delegated authority.\28\
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    \28\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(12).
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Eduardo A. Aleman,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2019-02892 Filed 2-20-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 8011-01-P