[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 159 (Monday, August 18, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48777-48779]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-19482]


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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

[Release No. 34-72826; File No. SR-OPRA-2014-06]


Options Price Reporting Authority; Notice of Filing and Immediate 
Effectiveness of Proposed Amendment to the Plan for Reporting of 
Consolidated Options Last Sale Reports and Quotation Information To 
Amend OPRA's Fee Schedule

August 12, 2014.
    Pursuant to Section 11A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 
(``Act'') \1\ and Rule 608 thereunder,\2\ notice is hereby given that 
on July 2, 2014, the Options Price Reporting Authority (``OPRA'') 
submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (``Commission'') an 
amendment to the Plan for Reporting of Consolidated Options Last Sale 
Reports and Quotation Information (``OPRA Plan'').\3\ The amendment 
proposes to eliminate a category of fees for access to OPRA data during 
periods of after-hours operations and amend certain fees for calendar 
year 2015. The Commission is publishing this notice to solicit comments 
from interested persons on the proposed OPRA Plan amendment.
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    \1\ 15 U.S.C. 78k-1.
    \2\ 17 CFR 242.608.
    \3\ The OPRA Plan is a national market system plan approved by 
the Commission pursuant to Section 11A of the Act and Rule 608 
thereunder (formerly Rule 11Aa3-2). See Securities Exchange Act 
Release No. 17638 (March 18, 1981), 22 S.E.C. Docket 484 (March 31, 
1981). The full text of the OPRA Plan is available at http://www.opradata.com. The OPRA Plan provides for the collection and 
dissemination of last sale and quotation information on options that 
are traded on the participant exchanges. The twelve participants to 
the OPRA Plan are BATS Exchange, Inc., BOX Options Exchange, LLC, 
Chicago Board Options Exchange, Incorporated, C2 Options Exchange, 
Incorporated, International Securities Exchange, LLC, Miami 
International Securities Exchange, LLC, NASDAQ OMX BX, Inc., NASDAQ 
OMX PHLX LLC, NASDAQ Stock Market LLC, NYSE MKT LLC, NYSE Arca, 
Inc., and the Topaz Exchange, LLC (d/b/a ISE Gemini).
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I. Description and Purpose of the Plan Amendment

    The purpose of the proposed amendment is to amend the OPRA Fee 
Schedule in two respects: first, to eliminate fees specifically for 
access to data that OPRA disseminates as a result of trading on the 
markets of one or more

[[Page 48778]]

OPRA member exchanges during hours outside of OPRA's regular hours of 
operations (these hours are sometimes referred to in this filing as 
``after-hours''); and, second, to establish OPRA's Professional 
Subscriber Device-Based Fee for calendar year 2015 and make conforming 
changes in OPRA's Enterprise Rate Professional Subscriber Fee.
    As described in a recent filing--File No. OPRA-2014-04--one of 
OPRA's member exchanges has indicated that it is planning to initiate 
trading during hours outside of OPRA's regular hours of operations and 
to request OPRA to operate during the after-hours period when its 
market is open for trading. No exchange has previously made such a 
request, and as a result OPRA currently does not operate outside of its 
regular hours of operations.
    OPRA proposed in File No. OPRA-2014-04 to establish fees 
specifically for receipt of OPRA information disseminated during after-
hours operations. The fees established in that filing were based on the 
premise that OPRA Vendors and Professional Subscribers receiving only 
regular-hours OPRA data would continue to pay fees only for that data, 
that OPRA Vendors and Professional Subscribers receiving only after-
hours OPRA data would pay fees only for that data, and that OPRA 
Vendors and Professional Subscribers receiving both regular-hours OPRA 
data and after-hours OPRA data would pay fees for both data streams. In 
particular, File No. OPRA-2014-04 provided for an after-hours 
Professional Subscriber Device-Based Fee of $5.00 per month, with that 
fee applicable only to devices \4\ that are entitled for after-hours 
data.
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    \4\ OPRA permits the counting of ``User IDs'' as a surrogate for 
counting ``devices'' for purposes of the Professional Subscriber 
Device-based Fees. See footnote 2 in the OPRA Fee Schedule and 
OPRA's ``Policies with respect to Device-based Fees,'' which are 
available on the OPRA Web site under the ``Policies'' tab.
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    Several OPRA Vendors and Professional Subscribers have subsequently 
advised OPRA that it is impractical for them to administer separate 
entitlements and fees for regular-hours OPRA data and after-hours OPRA 
data, and that if the Fee Schedule proposed in File No. OPRA-2014-04 
were to be implemented they would need to apply the fees for both data 
streams to all of their data distribution activities. This would mean 
that the after-hours Professional Subscriber Device-Based Fee would in 
effect be a $5.00 per month increase for all devices, and that the 
other fees established in File No. OPRA-2014-04 for after-hours OPRA 
data would also be applicable to all OPRA data recipients.
    OPRA is therefore revising its Fee Schedule to eliminate the fees 
specifically for access to after-hours OPRA data, and is also revising 
its Professional Subscriber Device-Based Fee to specify that the fee 
during year 2015 will be $28.50 per month, an increase of $1.50 from 
the fee during 2014. For the years 2008-2014, OPRA has implemented 
incremental $1.00 per month increases in its Professional Subscriber 
Device-Based Fee.\5\ In effect, for 2015 OPRA is implementing the same 
$1.00 per month increase that it has implemented in past years plus an 
additional $0.50 per month as a result of dissemination of the after-
hours data. OPRA is also proposing to make conforming changes in its 
Enterprise Rate for 2015 so that it continues in 2015 to be the monthly 
Professional Subscriber Device-Based Fee times the number of a 
Professional Subscriber's U.S.-based registered representatives, 
subject to a minimum rate that is also determined by reference to the 
monthly Professional Subscriber Device-Based Fee.
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    \5\ OPRA's practice in the recent past has been to establish the 
Professional Subscriber Device-Based Fee for several years at a 
time. Most recently, OPRA established the Professional Subscriber 
Device-Based Fee at $24.00 per month for the year 2011, $25.00 per 
month for the year 2012, $26.00 per month for the year 2013 and 
$27.00 per month for the year 2014. See File No. OPRA-2010-03, 
Release No. 34-63273 (November 8, 2010). In this filing, OPRA is 
establishing the Professional Subscriber Device-Based Fee only for 
the year 2015, since the introduction of after-hours trading makes 
the forecasting of future OPRA revenues particularly uncertain at 
this time.
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    The proposed increases in the Professional Subscriber Device-Based 
Fee and in the Enterprise Rate are intended to generate revenues for 
OPRA and its member exchanges that are needed to cover actual and 
anticipated increases in the costs of collecting, consolidating, 
processing and disseminating options market information and assuring 
the reliability and integrity of that information, as well as increases 
in OPRA's administrative costs. These costs include the enhancements to 
the OPRA system and related exchange systems that are needed in order 
to enable OPRA and its participant exchanges to handle the continually 
increasing volume of market information as a result of the continuing 
expansion of listed options trading, to accommodate the dissemination 
of after-hours data and to provide a greater degree of redundancy and 
security in the OPRA system. Assuming that the number of fee-liable 
devices and registered persons remains the same,\6\ the effect of the 
increases in these fees would be to increase revenues derived from 
these fees by approximately 5.6% in the year 2015.
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    \6\ This assumption may be too optimistic, unless the 
introduction of after-hours trading results in the dissemination of 
OPRA data to additional devices and registered persons. Over the 
past ten years, the number of devices with access to OPRA data has 
decreased by approximately 32%.
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    The text of the proposed amendment to the OPRA Plan is available at 
OPRA, the Commission's Public Reference Room, http://opradata.com, and 
on the Commission's Web site at www.sec.gov.

II. Implementation of the OPRA Plan Amendment

    Pursuant to paragraph (b)(3)(i) of Rule 608 of Regulation NMS under 
the Act, OPRA designated this amendment as establishing or changing 
fees or other charges collected on behalf of all of the OPRA 
participant exchanges in connection with access to or use of OPRA 
facilities. OPRA proposes to put the elimination of the fees 
specifically for access to after-hours OPRA data into effect 
immediately,\7\ and proposes to put the change in the Professional 
Subscriber Device-Based Fee into effect as of January 1, 2015. 
Implementation of the change in this fee on January 1 is consistent 
with OPRA's prior practice with respect to changes in its Professional 
Subscriber Device-Based Fee, and will provide ample opportunity to give 
persons subject to these fees advance notice of the change.
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    \7\ OPRA stated in File No. OPRA-2014-04 that it would put the 
revised Fee Schedule into effect as of the first day of a calendar 
month after one or more of OPRA's member exchanges had initiated 
after-hours trading. Since no OPRA member exchange is planning to 
provide after-hours trading before October 2014, OPRA has not 
charged, and will not be charging, fees on the basis of the revised 
Fee Schedule described in File No. OPRA-2014-04.
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    The Commission may summarily abrogate the amendment within sixty 
days of its filing and require refiling and approval of the amendment 
by Commission order pursuant to Rule 608(b)(2) under the Act \8\ if it 
appears to the Commission that such action is necessary or appropriate 
in the public interest, for the protection of investors, or the 
maintenance of fair and orderly markets, to remove impediments to, and 
perfect the mechanisms of, a national market system, or otherwise in 
furtherance of the purposes of the Act.
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    \8\ 17 CFR 242.608(b)(2).
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III. Solicitation of Comments

    Interested persons are invited to submit written data, views, and 
arguments concerning the foregoing, including whether the proposed OPRA 
Plan amendment is consistent with the

[[Page 48779]]

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 No. SR-OPRA-2014-06 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-OPRA-2014-06. 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 plan amendment that are 
filed with the Commission, and all written communications relating to 
the proposed plan amendment 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 office of OPRA. 
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-OPRA-2014-06 
and should be submitted on or before September 4, 2014.

    By the Commission.
Kevin M. O'Neill,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2014-19482 Filed 8-15-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P