(a) Pilot pricing restrictions. Notwithstanding §242.610(c), on a pilot basis for the period specified in paragraph (c) of this section, in connection with a transaction in an NMS stock, a national securities exchange shall not:

(1) For Test Group 1, impose, or permit to be imposed, any fee or fees for the display of, or execution against, the displayed best bid or best offer of such market that exceed or accumulate to more than $0.0010 per share;

(2) For Test Group 2, provide to any person, or permit to be provided to any person, a rebate or other remuneration in connection with an execution, or offer, or permit to be offered, any linked pricing that provides a discount or incentive on transaction fees applicable to removing (providing) liquidity that is linked to providing (removing) liquidity, except to the extent the exchange has a rule to provide non-rebate linked pricing to its registered market makers in consideration for meeting market quality metrics; and

(3) For the Control Group, impose, or permit to be imposed, any fee or fees in contravention of the limits specified in §242.610(c).

(b) Pilot securities—

(1) Initial List of Pilot Securities.

(i) The Commission shall designate by notice the initial List of Pilot Securities, and shall assign each Pilot Security to one Test Group or the Control Group. Further, the Commission may designate by notice the assignment of NMS stocks that are interlisted on a Canadian securities exchange to Test Group 2 or the Control Group.

(ii) For purposes of this section, “Pilot Securities” means the NMS stocks designated by the Commission on the initial List of Pilot Securities pursuant to paragraph (b)(1)(i) of this section and any successors to such NMS stocks. At the time of selection by the Commission, an NMS stock must have a minimum share price of $2 to be included in the Pilot and must have an unlimited duration or a duration beyond the end of the post-Pilot Period. In addition, an NMS stock must have an average daily volume of 30,000 shares or more to be included in the Pilot. If the share price of a Pilot Security in one of the Test Groups or the Control Group closes below $1 at the end of a trading day, it shall be removed from the Pilot.

(iii) For purposes of this section, “primary listing exchange” means the national securities exchange on which the NMS stock is listed. If an NMS stock is listed on more than one national securities exchange, the national securities exchange upon which the NMS stock has been listed the longest shall be the primary listing exchange.

(2) Pilot Securities Exchange Lists.

(i) After the Commission selects the initial List of Pilot Securities and prior to the beginning of trading on the first day of the Pilot Period each primary listing exchange shall publicly post on its website downloadable files containing a list, in pipe-delimited ASCII format, of the Pilot Securities for which the exchange serves as the primary listing exchange. Each primary listing exchange shall maintain and update this list as necessary prior to the beginning of trading on each business day that the U.S. equities markets are open for trading through the end of the post-Pilot Period.

(ii) The Pilot Securities Exchange Lists shall contain the following fields:

(A) Ticker Symbol;

(B) Security Name;

(C) Primary Listing Exchange;

(D) Security Type:

(1) Common Stock;

(2) ETP;

(3) Preferred Stock;

(4) Warrant;

(5) Closed-End Fund;

(6) Structured Product;

(7) ADR; and

(8) Other;

(E) Pilot Group:

(1) Control Group;

(2) Test Group 1; and

(3) Test Group 2;

(F) Stratum Code; and

(G) Date the Entry Was Last Updated.

(3) Pilot Securities Change Lists.

(i) Prior to the beginning of trading on each trading day the U.S. equities markets are open for trading throughout the end of the post-Pilot Period, each primary listing exchange shall publicly post on its website downloadable files containing a Pilot Securities Change List, in pipe-delimited ASCII format, that lists each separate change applicable to any Pilot Securities for which it serves or has served as the primary listing exchange. The Pilot Securities Change List will provide a cumulative list of all changes to the Pilot Securities that the primary listing exchange has made to the Pilot Securities Exchange List published pursuant to paragraph (b)(2) of this section.

(ii) In addition to the fields required for the Pilot Securities Exchange List, the Pilot Securities Change Lists shall contain the following fields:

(A) New Ticker Symbol (if applicable);

(B) New Security Name (if applicable);

(C) Deleted Date (if applicable);

(D) Date Security Closed Below $1 (if applicable);

(E) Effective Date of Change; and

(F) Reason for the Change.

(4) Posting requirement. All information publicly posted in downloadable files pursuant to paragraphs (b)(2) and (3) of this section shall be and remain freely and persistently available and easily accessible by the general public on the primary listing exchange's website for a period of not less than five years from the conclusion of the post-Pilot Period. In addition, the information shall be presented in a manner that facilitates access by machines without encumbrance, and shall not be subject to any restrictions, including restrictions on access, retrieval, distribution and reuse.

(c) Pilot duration.

(1) The Pilot shall include:

(i) A six-month “pre-Pilot Period;”

(ii) A two-year “Pilot Period” with an automatic sunset at the end of the first year unless, no later than thirty days prior to that time, the Commission publishes a notice that the Pilot shall continue for up to one additional year; and

(iii) A six-month “post-Pilot Period.”

(2) The Commission shall designate by notice the commencement and termination dates of the pre-Pilot Period, Pilot Period, and post-Pilot Period, including any suspension of the one-year sunset of the Pilot Period.

(d) Order routing datasets. Throughout the duration of the Pilot, including the pre-Pilot Period and post-Pilot Period, each national securities exchange that facilitates trading in NMS stocks shall prepare and transmit to the Commission a file, in pipe-delimited ASCII format, no later than the last day of each month, containing sets of order routing data, for the prior month, in accordance with the specifications in paragraphs (d)(1) and (2) of this section. For the pre-Pilot Period, order routing datasets shall include each NMS stock. For the Pilot Period and post-Pilot Period, order routing datasets shall include each Pilot Security. Each national securities exchange shall treat the order routing datasets as regulatory information and shall not access or use that information for any commercial or non-regulatory purpose.

(1) Dataset of daily volume statistics, with field names as the first record and a consistent naming convention that indicates the exchange and date of the file, that include the following specifications of liquidity-providing orders by security and separating orders by order designation (exchanges may exclude auction orders) and order capacity:

(i) Code identifying the submitting exchange.

(ii) Eight-digit code identifying the date of the calendar day of trading in the format “yyyymmdd.”

(iii) Symbol assigned to an NMS stock (including ETPs) under the national market system plan to which the consolidated best bid and offer for such a security are disseminated.

(iv) The broker-dealer's CRD number and MPID.

(v) Order type code:

(A) Inside-the-quote orders;

(B) At-the-quote limit orders; and

(C) Near-the-quote limit orders.

(vi) Order size codes:

(A) <100 share bucket;

(B) 100-499 share bucket;

(C) 500-1,999 share bucket;

(D) 2,000-4,999 share bucket;

(E) 5,000-9,999 share bucket; and

(F) ≥10,000 share bucket.

(vii) Number of orders received.

(viii) Cumulative number of shares of orders received.

(ix) Cumulative number of shares of orders cancelled prior to execution.

(x) Cumulative number of shares of orders executed at receiving market center.

(xi) Cumulative number of shares of orders routed to another execution venue.

(xii) Cumulative number of shares of orders executed within:

(A) 0 to < 100 microseconds of order receipt;

(B) 100 microseconds to < 100 milliseconds of order receipt;

(C) 100 milliseconds to < 1 second of order receipt;

(D) 1 second to < 30 seconds of order receipt;

(E) 30 seconds to < 60 seconds of order receipt;

(F) 60 seconds to < 5 minutes of order receipt;

(G) 5 minutes to < 30 minutes of order receipt; and

(H) ≥ 30 minutes of order receipt.

(2) Dataset of daily volume statistics, with field names as the first record and a consistent naming convention that indicates the exchange and date of the file, that include the following specifications of liquidity-taking orders by security and separating orders by order designation (exchanges may exclude auction orders) and order capacity:

(i) Code identifying the submitting exchange.

(ii) Eight-digit code identifying the date of the calendar day of trading in the format “yyyymmdd.”

(iii) Symbol assigned to an NMS stock (including ETPs) under the national market system plan to which the consolidated best bid and offer for such a security are disseminated.

(iv) The broker-dealer's CRD number and MPID.

(v) Order type code:

(A) Market orders; and

(B) Marketable limit orders.

(vi) Order size codes:

(A) <100 share bucket;

(B) 100-499 share bucket;

(C) 500-1,999 share bucket;

(D) 2,000-4,999 share bucket;

(E) 5,000-9,999 share bucket; and

(F) ≥10,000 share bucket.

(vii) Number of orders received.

(viii) Cumulative number of shares of orders received.

(ix) Cumulative number of shares of orders cancelled prior to execution.

(x) Cumulative number of shares of orders executed at receiving market center.

(xi) Cumulative number of shares of orders routed to another execution venue.

(e) Exchange Transaction Fee Summary. Throughout the duration of the Pilot, including the pre-Pilot Period and post-Pilot Period, each national securities exchange that facilitates trading in NMS stocks shall publicly post on its website downloadable files containing information relating to transaction fees and rebates and changes thereto (applicable to securities having a price equal to or greater than $1). Each national securities exchange shall post its initial Exchange Transaction Fee Summary prior to the start of trading on the first day of the pre-Pilot Period and update its Exchange Transaction Fee Summary on a monthly basis within 10 business days of the first day of each calendar month, to reflect data collected for the prior month. The information prescribed by this section shall be made available using the most recent version of the XML schema published on the Commission's website. All information publicly posted pursuant to this paragraph (e) shall be and remain freely and persistently available and easily accessible on the national securities exchange's website for a period of not less than five years from the conclusion of the post-Pilot Period. In addition, the information shall be presented in a manner that facilitates access by machines without encumbrance, and shall not be subject to any restrictions, including restrictions on access, retrieval, distribution, and reuse. The Exchange Transaction Fee Summary shall contain the following fields:

(1) Exchange Name;

(2) Record Type Indicator:

(i) Reported Fee is the Monthly Average;

(ii) Reported Fee is the Median; and

(iii) Reported Fee is the Spot Monthly;

(3) Participant Type:

(i) Registered Market Maker; and

(ii) All Others;

(4) Pilot Group:

(i) Control Group;

(ii) Test Group 1; and

(iii) Test Group 2;

(5) Applicability to Displayed and Non-Displayed Interest:

(i) Displayed only;

(ii) Non-displayed only; and

(iii) Both displayed and non-displayed;

(6) Applicability to Top and Depth of Book Interest:

(i) Top of book only;

(ii) Depth of book only; and

(iii) Both top and depth of book;

(7) Effective Date of Fee or Rebate;

(8) End Date of Currently Reported Fee or Rebate (if applicable);

(9) Month and Year of the monthly realized reported average and median per share fees and rebates;

(10) Pre/Post Fee Changes Indicator (if applicable) denoting implementation of a new fee or rebate on a day other than the first day of the month;

(11) Base and Top Tier Fee or Rebate:

(i) Take (to remove):

(A) Base Fee/Rebate reflecting the standard amount assessed or rebated before any applicable discounts, tiers, caps, or other incentives are applied; and

(B) Top Tier Fee/Rebate reflecting the amount assessed or rebated after any applicable discounts, tiers, caps, or other incentives are applied; and

(ii) Make (to provide):

(A) Base Fee/Rebate reflecting the standard amount assessed or rebated before any applicable discounts, tiers, caps, or other incentives are applied; and

(B) Top Tier Fee/Rebate reflecting the amount assessed or rebated after any applicable discounts, tiers, caps, or other incentives are applied;

(12) Average Take Fee (Rebate)/Average Make Rebate (Fee), by Participant Type, Test Group, Displayed/Non-Displayed, and Top/Depth of Book; and

(13) Median Take Fee (Rebate)/Median Make Fee (Rebate), by Participant Type, Test Group, Displayed/Non-Displayed, and Top/Depth of Book.

[84 FR 5298, Feb. 20, 2019]