2015-19127. Self-Regulatory Organizations; The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC; Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed Rule Change To Amend NASDAQ Rule 7015(b) and (g) To Modify Port Fees

July 30, 2015.

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 July 20, 2015, 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, 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 the Substance of the Proposed Rule Change

The Exchange proposes to amend NASDAQ Rule 7015(b) and (g) to modify the port fees charged to members and non-members for ports used to enter orders into Nasdaq systems, in connection with the use of the FIX and OUCH trading telecommunication protocols. The Exchange will implement the proposed new fees on August 3, 2015.

The text of the proposed rule change is below; proposed new language is italicized; proposed deletions are in brackets.

* * * * *

7015. Access Services

(a) No change.

(b) Financial Information Exchange (FIX).

Ports	Price
FIX Trading Port	$5 75[50]/port/month.
FIX Port for Services Other than Trading	$500/port/month.

(c)-(f) No change.

(g) Other Port Fees.

Remote Multi-Cast ITCH Wave Ports

Description	Installation fee	Recurring monthly fee
MITCH Wave Port at Secaucus, NJ	$2,500	$7,500
MITCH Wave Port at Weehawken, NJ	2,500	7,500
MITCH Wave Port at Mahwah, NJ	5,000	12,500

The following port fees shall apply in connection with the use of other trading telecommunication protocols:

• $5 75[50] per month for each port pair, other than Multicast ITCH® data feed pairs, for which the fee is $1,000 per month for software-based TotalView-ITCH or $2,500 per month for combined software- and hardware-based TotalView-ITCH, and TCP ITCH data feed pairs, for which the fee is $750 per month.
• An additional $200 per month for each port used for entering orders or quotes over the Internet.
• An additional $600 per month for each port used for market data delivery over the Internet.

Dedicated OUCH Port Infrastructure

The Dedicated OUCH Port Infrastructure subscription allows a member firm to assign up to 30 of its OUCH ports to a dedicated server infrastructure for its exclusive use. A Dedicated OUCH Port Infrastructure subscription is available to a member firm for a fee of $5,000 per month, which is in addition to the standard fees assessed for each OUCH port. A one-time installation fee of $5,000 is assessed subscribers for each Dedicated OUCH Port Server subscription.

(h)-(i) No change.

* * * * *

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

NASDAQ is proposing to amend NASDAQ Rules 7015 (b) and (g) to modify the monthly fee it charges for ports used to enter orders in the NASDAQ Market Center for the trading of equities, in connection with the use of FIX and OUCH trading telecommunication protocols.^[3]

The enhanced ports will use field-programmable gate array (“FPGA”) technology, which is a hardware-delivery mechanism and an upgrade to the existing software and software-and-hardware based mechanisms. By taking advantage of hardware parallelism, FPGA technology is capable of processing more data packets during peak market conditions without the introduction of variable queuing latency. In other words, the upgrade to FPGA will improve the predictability of the telecommunications ports and thereby add value to the user experience.

The Exchange is offering new technology and pricing in order to keep pace with changes in the industry and evolving customer needs as new technologies emerge and products continue to develop and change. The costs associated with the hardware-based delivery system cover creating, shipping, installing and maintaining the new equipment and codebase. From a messaging perspective, the data content and sequencing on the new hardware version of the OUCH ports will be the same as on the legacy software-based versions of NASDAQ's ports that are being replaced.

2. Statutory Basis

NASDAQ believes that the proposed rule change is consistent with the provisions of Section 6 of the Act,^[4] in general, and with Section 6(b)(5) of the Act ^[5] in particular, in that the proposal is 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. The Exchange continuously strives to offer members state of the art technology to enhance their trading experience and thereby enhance the national market system. Incremental enhancements such as the advent of FPGA technology has helped make the U.S. markets the deepest, most liquid markets in the world.

The Exchange believes the proposed rule change is consistent with Section 6(b)(4) of the Act ^[6] 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 or system which the Exchange operates or controls, and it does not unfairly discriminate between customers, issuers, brokers or dealers.

The Exchange believes that the proposed fees are reasonable in that they are based on the costs associated with purchasing hardware (capital expenditures) and supporting and maintaining the infrastructure (operating expenditures) for the FPGA enhancement for member firms. In addition, the FPGA enhancements will provide value to members far exceeding the incremental costs imposed. The Exchange also believes that the proposed fees are equitable and not unfairly discriminatory because the fees apply equally to all users of the FPGA-enhanced ports. Moreover, the fees apply in direct proportion to the number of ports used by each member.

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

NASDAQ does not believe that the proposed rule change will result in any burden on competition that is not necessary or appropriate in furtherance of the purposes of the Act, as amended. To the contrary, NASDAQ believes that the proposed rule change is pro-competitive in that the enhancements improve the competitiveness of the NASDAQ Market Center and the overall quality of the national market system. If, as NASDAQ believes, the FPGA enhancement provides NASDAQ a competitive advantage, other exchanges will quickly respond by enhancing their own markets in the same way. Such innovation and imitation is the very essence of the competition the Exchange Act is designed to promote.^[7]

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 change has become effective pursuant to Section 19(b)(3)(A)(ii) of the Act ^[8] . 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.

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-NASDAQ-2015-086 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-2015-086. 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 Web site (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 Web site 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 such filing also will be available for inspection and copying at the principal offices of the Exchange. All comments received will be posted without change; the Commission does not edit personal identifying information from submissions. You should submit only information that you wish to make available publicly. All submissions should refer to File Number SR-NASDAQ-2015-086, and should be submitted on or before August 26, 2015.

For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated authority.⁹

Robert W. Errett,

Deputy Secretary.

Footnotes

1.  15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).

2.  17 CFR 240.19b-4.

3. In April 2015, the Exchange increased the charges assessed under Rules 7015(b) and (g) to the levels proposed herein in light of the FPGA hardware upgrade. See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 74829 (April 29, 2015), 80 FR 25745 (May 5, 2015) (SR-NASDAQ-2015-042). The upgrade to FPGA hardware was delayed, however, and the Exchange reverted the fees to their original levels with retroactive application. See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 75366 (July 6, 2015), 80 FR 39827 (July 10, 2015) (SR-NASDAQ-2015-067). The Exchange is now confident that the FPGA hardware will be installed by the August 3, 2015 implementation date proposed by this filing.

4. 15 U.S.C. 78f.

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

6. 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(4).

7. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange is already using FPGA technology in order entry ports for the trading of futures. See https://www.cmegroup.com/​globex/​files/​NewiLinkArchitecture2014.pdf.

8. 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A)(ii).

9. 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(12).