2023-08523. Self-Regulatory Organizations; Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc.; Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change To Amend Its Fee Schedule

April 18, 2023.

Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Act”),^[1] and Rule 19b–4 thereunder,^[2] notice is hereby given that on April 3, 2023, Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. (the “Exchange” or “BZX”) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) the 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.

I. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Terms of Substance of the Proposed Rule Change

Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. (the “Exchange” or “BZX Options”) proposes to amend its fee schedule. The text of the proposed rule change is provided in Exhibit 5.

The text of the proposed rule change is also available on the Exchange's website ( http://markets.cboe.com/​us/​equities/​regulation/​rule_​filings/​bzx/​), at the Exchange's Office of the Secretary, and at the Commission's Public Reference Room.

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

In its filing with the Commission, the Exchange included statements concerning the purpose of and basis for the proposed rule change and discussed any comments it received on the proposed rule change. The text of these statements may be examined at the places specified in Item IV below. The Exchange has prepared summaries, set forth in sections A, B, and C below, of the most significant aspects of such statements.

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

1. Purpose

The Exchange proposes to amend its Fee Schedule, effective April 3, 2023.

The Exchange first notes that it operates in a highly competitive market in which market participants can readily direct order flow to competing venues if they deem fee levels at a particular venue to be excessive or incentives to be insufficient. More specifically, the Exchange is only one of 16 options venues to which market participants may direct their order flow. Based on publicly available information, no single options exchange has more than 17% of the market share and currently the Exchange represents only approximately 5% of the market share.^[3] Thus, in such a low-concentrated and highly competitive market, no single options exchange, including the Exchange, possesses significant pricing power in the execution of option order flow. The Exchange believes that the ever-shifting market share among the exchanges from month to month demonstrates that market participants can shift order flow or discontinue to reduce use of certain categories of products, in response to fee changes. Accordingly, competitive forces constrain the Exchange's transaction fees, and market participants can readily trade on competing venues if they deem pricing levels at those other venues to be more favorable.

The Exchange's Fee Schedule sets forth standard rebates and rates applied per contract. For example, the Exchange provides a rebate of $0.29 per contract for Market Maker orders that add liquidity in Penny Securities, yielding fee code PM. The Fee Codes and Associated Fees section of the Fees Schedule also provide for certain fee codes associated with certain order types and market participants that provide for various other fees or rebates. Additionally, the Fee Schedule offers tiered pricing which provides Members ^[4] opportunities to qualify for higher rebates or reduced fees where certain volume criteria and thresholds are met. In response to the competitive environment, the Exchange also offers tiered pricing, which provides Members with opportunities to qualify for higher rebates or reduced fees where certain volume criteria and thresholds are met. Tiered pricing provides an incremental incentive for Members to strive for higher tier levels, which provides increasingly higher benefits or discounts for satisfying increasingly more stringent criteria.

The Exchange proposes to update the Market Maker Penny Add Volume Tiers ( i.e., applicable to orders yielding fee code PM) set forth in footnote 6 of the Fee Schedule. The Exchange currently provides opportunities for rebates per contract to add liquidity in Penny Securities as follows:

Tier	Rebate per contract to add	Required criteria
Tier 1	($0.31)	Member has an ADAV 5 in Market Maker orders ≥0.15% of average OCV.6
Tier 2	(0.38)	Member has an ADAV in Market Maker orders ≥0.25% of average OCV.
Tier 3	(0.39)	Member has an ADAV in Market Maker orders ≥0.40% of average OCV.
Tier 4	(0.40)	(1) Member has an ADAV in Market Maker orders ≥0.45% of average OCV; and
		(2) Member has a Step-Up ADRV in Customer orders ≥0.05% of OCV from December 2022.
Tier 5	(0.43)	Member has an ADAV in Market Maker orders ≥0.60% of average OCV.
Tier 6	(0.44)	(1) Member has an ADAV in Market Maker orders ≥0.75% of average OCV; and
		(2) Member has an ADRV in Customer orders ≥0.50% of average OCV.

The Exchange proposes to amend these tiers to add new Tier 5 to provide a rebate of $0.41 per contract to add liquidity if a Member has (1) an ADAV in Market Maker orders greater than or equal to 0.50% of average OCV; and (2) a Step-Up ADAV in Market Maker orders in SPY greater than or equal to 0.05% of average OCV from December 2022.^[7] The Exchange also proposes a corresponding non-substantive amendment to update current Tiers 5 and 6 to Tiers 6 and 7, respectively.

2. Statutory Basis

The Exchange believes the proposed rule change is consistent with the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Act”) and the rules and regulations thereunder applicable to the Exchange and, in particular, the requirements of Section 6(b) of the Act.^[8] Specifically, the Exchange believes the proposed rule change is consistent with the Section 6(b)(5) ^[9] requirements that the rules of an exchange be designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices, to promote just and equitable principles of trade, to foster cooperation and coordination with persons engaged in regulating, clearing, settling, processing information with respect to, and facilitating transactions in securities, to remove impediments to and perfect the mechanism of a free and open market and a national market system, and, in general, to protect investors and the public interest. Additionally, the Exchange believes the proposed rule change is consistent with the Section 6(b)(5) ^[10] requirement that the rules of an exchange not be designed to permit unfair discrimination between customers, issuers, brokers, or dealers. The Exchange also believes the proposed rule change is consistent with Section 6(b)(4) of the Act,^[11] which requires that Exchange rules provide for the equitable allocation of reasonable dues, fees, and other charges among its Trading Permit Holders and other persons using its facilities.

As described above, the Exchange operates in a highly competitive market in which market participants can readily direct order flow to competing venues if they deem fee levels at a particular venue to be excessive or incentives to be insufficient. The proposed rule change reflects a competitive pricing structure designed to incentivize market participants to direct their order flow to the Exchange, which the Exchange believes would enhance market quality to the benefit of all Members. Additionally, competing exchanges offer similar tiered pricing structures, including schedules of rebates and fees that apply based upon similarly situated members achieving certain volume and/or growth thresholds, as well as assess similar fees or rebates for similar types of orders, to that of the Exchange.

The Exchange believes adding new Tier 5 to the Market Maker Penny Add Volume Tiers is reasonable as it is designed to encourage Market Makers to increase their order flow to the Exchange to achieve the proposed tier. More specifically, the Exchange believes that adopting a new tier may encourage Members to increase their ADAV in Market Makers orders, including in SPY, over a modestly higher percentage of average OCV, and that reducing the difficulty of achieving an existing tier offers alternative criteria to the Market Maker Penny Add Volume Tiers, as restructured, for Members to strive to achieve by submitting the requisite add volume order flow. An increase in Market Maker add volume, particularly, facilitates tighter spreads and an increase in overall liquidity provider activity, both of which signal additional corresponding increase in order flow from other market participants, contributing towards a robust, well-balanced market ecosystem. Indeed, increased overall order flow benefits investors by continuing to deepen the Exchange's liquidity pool, potentially providing even greater execution incentives and opportunities, offering additional flexibility for all investors to enjoy cost savings, supporting the quality of price discovery, promoting market transparency and improving investor protection.

The Exchange also believes that the proposed criteria and rebate in new Tier 5 reasonably reflect the incremental difficulty in achieving the remaining Market Maker Penny Add Volume Tiers, and are in line with the criteria and enhanced rebates offered under the remaining Market Maker Penny Add Volume Tiers.

The Exchange believes the proposed change is also equitable and not unfairly discriminatory because it applies uniformly to all Members, who will have the opportunity to meet the new tier's criteria and receive the corresponding rebate for the tier if such criteria is met. Without having a view of activity on other markets and off-exchange venues, the Exchange has no way of knowing whether these proposed changes would definitely result in any Members qualifying for the proposed rebates. While the Exchange has no way of predicting with certainty how the proposed changes will impact Member activity, based on trading activity from the prior months, the Exchange anticipates that up to two Members will achieve new Tier 5. Additionally, all Members are able to increase their Market Maker order flow to attempt to achieve the new tier. Should a Member not meet the proposed new criteria, the Member will merely not receive that corresponding enhanced rebate.

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

The Exchange does not believe that the proposed rule change will impose any burden on competition that is not necessary or appropriate in furtherance of the purposes of the Act. The Exchange believes the proposal to amend the Market Maker Penny Add Volume Tiers does not impose any burden on intramarket competition that is not necessary or appropriate in furtherance of the purposes of the Act, as they will apply to all Members and all Members will continue to have an opportunity to receive rebates through the program. All Market Maker Volume Add Tiers are generally designed to increase the competitiveness of BZX and incentivize participants to increase their order flow on the Exchange, providing for additional execution opportunities for market participants and improved price transparency. An overall increase in add activity may provide for deeper, more liquid markets and execution opportunities at improved prices. Furthermore, greater overall order flow, trading opportunities, and pricing transparency benefit all market participants on the Exchange by enhancing market quality and continuing to encourage Members to send orders, thereby contributing towards a robust and well-balanced market ecosystem.

The Exchange also believes the proposed rule change does not impose any burden on intermarket competition that is not necessary or appropriate in furtherance of the purposes of the Act. As previously discussed, the Exchange operates in a highly competitive market. Members have numerous alternative venues they may participate on and direct their order flow, including 15 other options exchanges. Additionally, the Exchange represents a small percentage of the overall market. Based on publicly available information, no single options exchange has more than 17% of the market share. Therefore, no exchange possesses significant pricing power in the execution of order flow. Indeed, participants can readily choose to send their orders to other exchanges if they deem fee levels at those other venues to be more favorable. Moreover, the Commission has repeatedly expressed its preference for competition over regulatory intervention in determining prices, products, and services in the securities markets. Specifically, in Regulation NMS, the Commission highlighted the importance of market forces in determining prices and SRO revenues and, also, recognized that current regulation of the market system “has been remarkably successful in promoting market competition in its broader forms that are most important to investors and listed companies.” The fact that this market is competitive has also long been recognized by the courts. In NetCoalition v. Securities and Exchange Commission, the D.C. Circuit stated as follows: “[n]o one disputes that competition for order flow is `fierce.' . . . As the SEC explained, `[i]n the U.S. national market system, buyers and sellers of securities, and the broker-dealers that act as their order-routing agents, have a wide range of choices of where to route orders for execution'; [and] `no exchange can afford to take its market share percentages for granted' because `no exchange possesses a monopoly, regulatory or otherwise, in the execution of order flow from broker dealers'. . . .”. Accordingly, the Exchange does not believe its proposed fee change imposes any burden on competition that is not necessary or appropriate in furtherance of the purposes of the Act.

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

The Exchange neither solicited nor received comments on the proposed rule change.

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

The foregoing rule change has become effective pursuant to Section 19(b)(3)(A)(ii) of the Act ^[12] and Rule 19b–4(f)(2) ^[13] 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 change should be approved or disapproved.

IV. Solicitation of Comments

Interested persons are invited to submit written data, views and arguments concerning the foregoing, including whether the proposed rule change is consistent with the Act. Comments may be submitted by any of the following methods:

Electronic Comments

• Use the Commission's internet comment form ( http://www.sec.gov/​rules/​sro.shtml); or

• Send an email to [e-mail]. Please include File Number SR–CboeBZX–2023–023 on the subject line.

Paper Comments

• Send paper comments in triplicate to Secretary, Securities and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street NE, Washington, DC 20549–1090.

All submissions should refer to File Number SR–CboeBZX–2023–023. 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–CboeBZX–2023–023 and should be submitted on or before May 15, 2023.

For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated authority.^[14]

Sherry R. Haywood,

Assistant Secretary.

Footnotes

1.  15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).

2.  17 CFR 240.19b–4.

3.   See Cboe Global Markets U.S. Options Market Monthly Volume Summary (March 28, 2023), available at https://www.cboe.com/​us/​options/​market_​statistics/​.

4.   See Exchange Rule 1.5(n).

5.  “ADAV” means average daily added volume calculated as the number of contracts added.

6.  “OCC Customer Volume” or “OCV” means the total equity and ETF options volume that clears in the Customer range at the Options Clearing Corporation (“OCC”) for the month for which the fees apply, excluding volume on any day that the Exchange experiences an Exchange System Disruption and on any day with a scheduled early market close.

7.  The Exchange proposes to add this tier as described in the table in Footnote 6 and amend the amounts of the rebates in the Standard Rates table.

8.  15 U.S.C. 78f(b).

9.  15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5).

10.   Id.

11.  15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(4).

12.  15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A)(ii).

13.  17 CFR 240.19b–4(f)(2).

14.  17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12).