SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

UNITED STATES

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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

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WASHINGTON, DC 20549

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DIVISION OF

TRADING AND MARKETS

April 28, 2017

Ms. Marcia E. Asquith

Executive Vice President Board and External Relations

Financial Industry Regulatory Authority

1735 K Street NW

Washington, DC 20006

Re:

Exemption Under Rule 608(e) of Regulation NMS under the Securities Exchange

Act of 1934 from Certain Provisions of the "Plan to Implement a Tick Size Pilot

Program"

Dear Ms. Asquith:

In your letter dated March 2, 2017,' Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc.

("FINRA"), on behalf of itself and Chicago Stock Exchange, Inc.("CHX"), requests that the

Securities and Exchange Commission ("Commission" or "SEC")grant an exemption from the

website data publication requirements ofthe National Market System Plan to Implement a Tick

Size Pilot Program ("Plan" or "Pilot"),2 as discussed below.

Specifically, FINRA and CHX request that the Commission, pursuant to Rule 608(e) of

Regulation NMS under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934("Exchange Act"), exempt them

from the requirements of Rule 608(c) of Regulation NMS that they comply with certain

provisions of Section VII of the Plan that address, among other things, the collection and

publication of Pilot data.

Rule 608(c) of Regulation NMS requires the Participants3 to comply with the terms of the

Plan.4 Rule 608(e) of Regulation NMS provides that the Commission may exempt from the

See letter from Marcia E. Asquith, Executive Vice President Board and External

Relations, FINRA,to Robert W. Errett, Deputy Secretary, U.S. Securities and Exchange

Commission, dated March 2, 2017("Exemption Request').

See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 74892(May 6, 2015), 80 FR 27513(May 13,

2015)("Approval Order"). See also Securities Exchange Act Release No. 76382

(November 6, 2015), 80 FR 70284(November 13, 2015). Unless otherwise specified,

capitalized terms are the defined terms ofthe Plan.

The Participants to the Plan are Bats BZX Exchange, Inc., Bats BYX Exchange, Inc.,

Bats EDGA Exchange, Inc., Bats EDGX Exchange, Inc., Chicago Stock Exchange, Inc.,

provisions ofRule 608 ofRegulation NMS,either conditionally or on specified terms and

conditions,any self-regulatory organization, ifthe Commission determines that such exemption

is consistent with the public interest,the protection ofinvestors,the maintenance offair and

orderly markets, and the removal ofimpediments to, and the perfection ofthe mechanisms of,a

national market systems

As discussed below,the Commission, pursuant to its authority under Rule 608(e)of

Regulation NMS,is hereby granting FINRA and CHX a limited exemption from the requirement

to comply with certain provisions ofthe Plan as required under Rule 608(c)ofRegulation NMS

so long as the Pilot data is published in accordance with the FINRA proposed rule change

("FINRA Proposal")discussed below.6

Exemption from Website Data Publication Requirements

Section VII(A)(Collection ofTrading Center Pilot Data)ofthe Plan provides that the

Participants must collect certain data with respect to Pilot Securities, as set forth in Appendix B.

Section VII(A)ofthe Plan further provides,among other things,that on a monthly basis,each

Participant and the Designated Examining Authority("DEA")for each member ofa Participant

operating a Trading Center will, as applicable, make the specified data publicly available on its

respective website for free. In addition, Section VII(A)ofthe Plan provides that the data made

publicly available will not identify the Trading Center that generated the data. According to the

FINRA,Investors Exchange LLC,NASDAQ BX,Inc., NASDAQ PHLX LLC,the

Nasdaq Stock Market LLC,New York Stock Exchange LLC,NYSE Arca,Inc., NYSE

National,Inc. and NYSE MKT LLC.

17 CFR 242.608(c).

17 CFR 242.608(e).

FINRA has submitted a proposed rule change to implement an anonymous,grouped

masking methodology for the publication ofcertain Pilot data. See Securities Exchange

Act Release No.80193(Mar.9,2017), 82 FR 13901(Mar. 15,2017)("FINRA

Proposal"). Concurrent with the grant ofthis exemption,the Commission is approving

the FINR.A Proposal. See Securities Exchange Act Release No.80551 (Apri128,2017).

The Commission understands that CHX will submit a proposed rule change to modify its

website publication obligation for those Trading Centers for which it is DEA and to

provide that CHX will make the relevant Appendix B data available to FINRA for

aggregation and publication pursuat to FINRA's anonymous, grouped masking

methodology.

Data specified in Appendix B includes daily market quality statistics oforders by

security, order type, original order size(as observed by the Trading Center), hidden status

(as applicable), and coverage under Rule 605 ofRegulation NMS;specified data

regarding market orders and marketable limit orders; daily number ofregistered Market

Makers; and daily Market Maker participation statistics.

Exemption Request, the Participants intended to publish data relating to OTC activity on an

anonymous, disaggregated basis by Trading Center.g

FINRA and CHX request an exemption to permit the publication of data relating to OTC

activity pursuant to Appendix B.I(Market Quality Statistics), B. II (Market and Marketable

Limit Order Data) and B.IV (Daily Market Maker Participation Statistics)(together "Appendix B

data") on an aggregated basis using an anonymous, grouped masking methodology, as described

in the FINRA Proposal.9

In addition, CHX requests an exemption from the requirement that CHX,in its capacity

as DEA for its members operating as Trading Centers, make Appendix B data publicly available

on its website with respect to OTC activity. The CHX request would allow FINRA to include

the Trading Centers for which CHX is the DEA in its anonymous, grouped masking

methodology and to publish the Appendix B data related to OTC activity on the FINRA

website.'o

In the Exemption Request, FINRA and CHX indicated that the requested relief is

intended to mitigate confidentiality concerns raised by certain market participants related to the

required publication of Appendix B data related to OTC trading activity on their respective

websites.l l As noted in the Exemption Request, Appendix B data for OTC trading activity was

originally proposed to be published on a Trading Center-by-Trading Center basis using a

consistent masked identifier for the duration of the data publication period. Commenters had

raised concerns that the identity of a Trading Center that produced Appendix B data related to

OTC activity would be discernable, even if the website publication of the data was delayed at

least120 calendar days.

In addition, the Exemption Request noted that because CHX is the DEA for a relatively

small number of OTC Trading Centers, the identities ofthose Trading Centers could be

discernable even if published on an anonymous basis on the CHX website, regardless of whether

the data was published on an aggregated or disaggregated basis.

g

See also Securities Exchange Act Release No. 73511 (Nov. 3, 2014), 79 FR 66423(Nov.

7, 2014)(Notice of Filing of Proposed National Market System Plan to Implement a Tick

Size Pilot Program on a One-Year Pilot Basis).

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See supra note 6.

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See Letters from William Hebert, Managing Director, Financial Information Forum,to

Robert W. Errett, Deputy Secretary, Commission, dated December 21,2016; and Adam

C. Cooper, Senior Managing Director and Chief Legal Officer, Citadel Securities, to

Brent J. Fields, Secretary, Commission, dated December 21, 2016. See also Securities

Exchange Act Release No. 79424(November 29, 2016), 81 FR 87603(December 5,

2016)(Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of File No. SR-FINRA-2016-042).

The Commission grants the exemption to FINRA and CHX from the requirements in

Section VII(A) of the Plan to permit the publication of Appendix B data related to OTC trading

activity on an aggregated basis using the anonymous, grouped masking methodology described

in the FINRA Proposa1.12 The Commission has determined that this exemption is consistent with

the public interest, the protection of investors, the maintenance offair and orderly markets and

the removal of impediments to, and the perfection ofthe mechanisms of, a national market

system. Specifically, the Commission believes that this exemption will allow FINRA and CHX

to aggregate for publication Appendix B data related to OTC trading activiTy as a means to

anonymize the identities of OTC Trading Centers without reducing the usefulness of this

Appendix B data for analysis by the public.13

This exemption is conditioned on the facts and representations presented in the

Exemption Request. In the event any material change occurs with respect to any of the facts or

representations presented, the exemption will expire and the Participants must immediately

resume operating in accordance with all ofthe provisions in the Plan.

For the Commission,

by the Division of Trading and Markets,

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pursuant to delegated authority.

C~~ ~

David S. Shillman

Associate Director

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See su ra note 6. See also FINRA Rule 6191, Supplementary Material .15.

The Commission notes that this exemption does not modify the requirements regarding

the submission of Appendix B data to the SEC.

17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(42).

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