[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 128 (Tuesday, July 3, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39535-39537]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-16221]


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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

[Release No. 34-67283; File No. SR-NYSEArca-2012-64]


Self-Regulatory Organizations; NYSE Arca, Inc.; Notice of Filing 
of Proposed Rule Change To List and Trade Option Contracts Overlying 10 
Shares of a Security

June 27, 2012.
    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 June 15, 2012, NYSE Arca, Inc. (``Exchange'' or ``NYSE Arca'') 
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (``Commission'') the 
proposed rule change as described in Items I and II below, which Items 
have been prepared by the self-regulatory organization. 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 list and trade option contracts overlying 
10 shares of a security (``mini-options contracts''). The text of the 
proposed rule change is available on the Exchange's Web site at 
www.nyse.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 self-regulatory organization 
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 those 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 parts 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 is proposing to list and trade mini-options contracts 
and implement rule text necessary to integrate mini-options contracts 
with contracts overlying 100 shares (``standard contracts''). Whereas 
standard contracts represent a deliverable of 100 shares of an 
underlying security, mini-options contracts would represent a 
deliverable of 10 shares. The Exchange proposes to initially list and 
trade mini-options contracts overlying 5 high priced securities for 
which the standard contract overlying the same security exhibits 
significant liquidity.\3\ The Exchange believes that investors would 
benefit from the availability of mini-options contracts by making 
options overlying high priced securities more readily available as an 
investing tool and at more affordable and realistic prices, most 
notably for the average retail investor.
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    \3\ The Exchange proposes that mini-options contracts would be 
listed in only five issues, specifically SPDR S&P 500 (SPY), Apple, 
Inc. (AAPL), SPDR Gold Trust (GLD), Google Inc. (GOOG), and 
Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN). These issues were selected because they are 
priced greater than $100 and are among the most actively traded 
issues, in that the standard contract exhibits average daily volume 
(``ADV'') over the previous three calendar months of at least 45,000 
contracts, excluding LEAPS and FLEX series. The Exchange notes that 
any expansion of the program would require that a subsequent 
proposed rule change be submitted with the Commission.
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    For example, with Apple Inc. (``AAPL'') trading at $605.85 on March 
21, 2012, ($60,585 for 100 shares underlying a standard contract), the 
605 level call expiring on March 23 is trading at $7.65. The cost of 
the standard contract overlying 100 shares would be $765, which is 
substantially higher in notional terms than the average equity option 
price of $250.89.\4\ Proportionately equivalent mini-options contracts 
on AAPL would provide investors with the ability to manage and hedge 
their portfolio risk on their underlying investment, at a price of 
$76.50 per contract. In addition, investors who hold a position in AAPL 
at less than the round lot size would still be able to avail themselves 
of options to manage their portfolio risk. For example, the holder of 
50 shares of AAPL could write covered calls for five mini-options 
contracts. The table below demonstrates the proposed differences 
between a mini-options contracts [sic] and a standard contract with a 
strike price of $125 per share and a bid or offer of $3.20 per share:
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    \4\ A high priced underlying security may have relatively 
expensive options, because a low percentage move in the share price 
may mean a large movement in the options in terms of absolute 
dollars. Average non-FLEX equity option premium per contract January 
1-December 31, 2011. See http://www.theocc.com/webapps/monthly-volume-reports?reportClass=equity.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    Standard                Mini
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Share Deliverable Upon        100 shares..........  10 shares.
 Exercise.
Strike Price................  125.................  125.
Bid/Offer...................  3.20................  3.20.
Premium Multiplier..........  $100................  $10.
    Total Value of            $12,500.............  $1,250.
     Deliverable.
    Total Value of Contract.  $320................  $32.
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    The Exchange notes that the Commission has approved an earlier 
proposal of NYSE Arca to list and trade option contracts overlying a 
number of shares other than 100.\5\ Moreover, the concept of listing 
and trading parallel options products of reduced values and sizes on 
the same underlying security is not novel. For example, parallel 
product pairs on a full-value and reduced-value basis are currently 
listed on the S&P 500 Index (``SPX'' and ``XSP,'' respectively),

[[Page 39536]]

the Nasdaq 100 Index (``NDX'' and ``MNX,'' respectively) and the 
Russell 2000 Index (``RUT'' and ``RMN,'' respectively).
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    \5\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 44025 (February 28, 
2001), 66 FR 13986 (March 8, 2001) (approving SR-PCX-01-12).
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    The Exchange believes that the proposal to list and trade mini-
options contracts will not lead to investor confusion. There are two 
important distinctions between mini options and standard options that 
are designed to ease the likelihood of any investor confusion. First, 
the premium multiplier for the proposed mini options will be 10, rather 
than 100, to reflect the smaller unit of trading. To reflect this 
change, the Exchange proposes to add Rule 6.71(c) which notes that bids 
and offers for an option contract overlying 10 shares will be expressed 
in terms of dollars per 1/10th part of the total value of the contract. 
Thus, an offer of ``.50'' shall represent an offer $5.00 on an options 
contract having a unit of trading consisting of 10 shares. 
Additionally, the Exchange will designate mini-options contracts with 
different trading symbols than their related standard contract.\6\ The 
Exchange believes that the clarity of this approach is appropriate and 
transparent, as supported by the recent Options Clearing Corporation 
(``OCC'') filing to amend its bylaws to accommodate such strike prices 
and premiums.\7\ Moreover, the Exchange believes that the terms of 
mini-options contracts are consistent with the terms of the Options 
Disclosure Document.
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    \6\ OCC Symbology is structured for contracts with other than 
100 shares to be designated with a numerical suffix to the standard 
trading symbol, i.e., AAPL8.
    \7\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 61485 (February 3, 
2010), 75 FR 6750 (February 10, 2010) (SR-OCC-2010-01).
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    The Exchange recognizes the need to differentiate mini-options 
contracts from standard options and therefore is proposing the 
following changes to its rules.
    The Exchange proposes to add Commentary .01 to Rule 6.3 (Option 
Contracts to Be Traded) to reflect that, in addition to option 
contracts with a unit of trading of 100, the Exchange may list option 
contracts overlying 10 shares of SPDR S&P 500 (SPY), Apple, Inc. 
(AAPL), SPDR Gold Trust (GLD), Google Inc. (GOOG), and Amazon.com Inc. 
(AMZN) for all expirations applicable to 100 share options in each 
class. The Exchange believes that these five securities are appropriate 
because they are high priced securities for which there is already 
significant options liquidity and therefore significant customer 
demand.
    The Exchange also proposes to add Commentary .14 to Rule 6.4 
(Series of Options Open for Trading) to list series of mini-options 
provided that the underlying security has been designated as eligible 
under Rule 6.3 Commentary .01. Also, the Exchange proposes to not 
permit the listing of additional mini-options series if the underlying 
is trading at $90 or less to limit the number of strikes once the 
underlying is no longer a high priced security. The Exchange proposes a 
$90.01 minimum for continued qualification so that additional mini-
options strikes may be added even though the underlying has fallen 
slightly below the initial qualification standard. In addition, the 
underlying security must be trading above $90 for five consecutive days 
before the listing of mini-option contracts in a new expiration month. 
This restriction will allow the Exchange to list mini-option strikes 
without disruption when a new expiration month is added even if the 
underlying has had a minor decline in price.
    The Exchange also proposes to add Commentary .08 to Rule 6.8 
(Position Limits) to reflect that, for purposes of compliance with the 
Position Limits of Rules [sic] 6.8, ten mini-options contracts will 
equal one standard contract overlying 100 shares.
    The Exchange also proposes to add subsection (c) to Rule 6.71 
(Meaning of Premium Bids and Offers) to extend the explanation of bids 
and offers with respect to mini-options contracts and also remove 
references to Exchange-Traded Fund Shares, because other types of 
underlying securities have options traded on them.
    With regard to the impact of this proposal on system capacity, the 
Exchange has analyzed its capacity and represents that it and the 
Options Price Reporting Authority have the necessary systems capacity 
to handle the potential additional traffic associated with the listing 
and trading of mini-options contracts. The Exchange has further 
discussed the proposed listing and trading of mini-options contracts 
with the OCC, which has represented that it is able to accommodate the 
proposal.
2. Statutory Basis
    The Exchange believes the proposed rule change is consistent with 
Section 6(b) \8\ of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the ``Act''), 
in general, and furthers the objectives of Section 6(b)(5),\9\ in 
particular, because it is designed to promote just and equitable 
principles of trade, to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts, to 
remove impediments to and to perfect the mechanism for a free and open 
market and a national market system and, in general, to protect 
investors and the public interest. Specifically, the Exchange believes 
that investors would benefit from the availability of mini-options 
contracts by making options on high priced securities more readily 
available as an investing tool and at more affordable and realistic 
prices, most notably for the average retail investor. As described 
above, the proposal contains a number of features designed to protect 
investors by reducing investor confusion, such as the mini-options 
contracts being designated by different trading symbols from their 
related standard contracts.\10\ Moreover, the proposal is designed to 
protect investors and the public interest by providing investors with 
an enhanced tool to reduce risk in high priced securities. In 
particular, the proposed contracts will provide retail customers who 
invest in high priced issues in lots of less than 100 shares with a 
means of protecting their investments that is presently only available 
to those who have positions of 100 shares or more. Further, the 
proposal currently is limited to five high priced securities for which 
there is already significant options liquidity, and therefore 
significant customer demand and trading volume.
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    \8\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b).
    \9\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5).
    \10\ See supra note 6.
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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.

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

    No written comments were solicited or received with respect to the 
proposed rule change.

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

    Within 45 days of the date of publication of this notice in the 
Federal Register or within such longer period (i) as the Commission may 
designate up to 90 days of such date if it finds such longer period to 
be appropriate and publishes its reasons for so finding or (ii) as to 
which the self-regulatory organization consents, the Commission will:
    (A) By order approve or disapprove such proposed rule change, or

[[Page 39537]]

    (B) Institute proceedings to determine whether the proposed rule 
change should be 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 [email protected]. Please include 
File Number SR-NYSEArca-2012-64 on the subject line.

Paper Comments

     Send paper comments in triplicate to Elizabeth M. Murphy, 
Secretary, Securities and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street NE., 
Washington, DC 20549-1090.

All submissions should refer to File Number SR-NYSEArca-2012-64. 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 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; 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-NYSEArca-2012-64 and should 
be submitted on or before July 24, 2012.

    For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets, 
pursuant to delegated authority.\11\
Kevin M. O'Neill,
Deputy Secretary.
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    \11\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(12).
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[FR Doc. 2012-16221 Filed 7-2-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P