Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Act”), and Rule 19b-4 thereunder, notice is hereby given that on September 21, 2012, NASDAQ OMX BX, Inc. (“BX” or “Exchange”) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) the proposed rule change as described in Items I and II 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.
17 CFR 240.19b-4.
I. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Terms of the Substance of the Proposed Rule Change
BX proposes to adopt the QView service under Rule 7058. The Exchange is proposing to implement the rule change as soon as possible, but in no event greater than thirty calendar days from the filing date of this proposal. The text of the proposed rule change is available at http://nasdaqomxbx.cchwallstreet.com,, at BX's principal office, 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 III 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 adopt the new QView service. QView is a web-based, front-end application, which provides a subscribing member firm with increased transparency over its trading activity on the Exchange by allowing the member firm to track its Exchange order flow. In particular, a QView subscriber is able to track all of its trading activity on the Exchange through detailed order and execution summaries. QView provides a subscribing member with statistics concerning the total number of executions, total volume, dollar value of executions, executions by symbol, add versus remove, buy versus sell, display versus non-display, number of open orders, use of routing strategies and liquidity code designation. QView also provides information concerning how the subscribing member firm ranks in BX market activity as compared to other BX participants. The data provided by QView is available to the subscribing member both in real-time and historically. Subscribing member firms are also able to export such data from QView to other systems.
A subscribing member possessing multiple MPIDs must designate the MPIDs for which it would like to receive QView information. A subscribing member, however, may elect to monitor only the activity occurring through certain ports associated with a subscribed MPID. A member firm seeking to subscribe to QView that accesses the Exchange through a sponsored arrangement with another Exchange member must provide the Exchange with an executed sponsored access data agreement prior to subscribing to QView. The sponsored access data agreement makes clear that the subscribing member firm is permitted to designate the sponsoring firm's MPID for subscription to QView. A copy of this form may be found here: http://www.nasdaqtrader.com/content/productsservices/trading/QView/QView_SponsoredAccessAgreement.pdf.
A member firm must subscribe to TradeInfo BX to subscribe to QView. QView was developed to work in conjunction with TradeInfo BX, so that a subscriber to QView is able to seamlessly filter down to the specific order or execution information of the orders and executions provided in the QView dashboard interface. The dashboard also allows a QView subscriber to track his/her executions and open orders in real-time, as well as view its executions and open orders as an overall summary, with all totals displayed by quantity, share volume, or dollar value. As such, QView provides both an overall summary of a subscribing member firm's activity, as well as detailed order and execution information, thus providing the subscriber a comprehensive tool to track its trading activity.
TradeInfo BX is a web-based tool that, among other things, allows users access to all of the BX order and execution information for their entire firm for both equities and options through a single interface. TradeInfo BX is offered complimentary as part of the Workstation or separately for a fee of $95 per user per month. See Rule 7015.
For example, QView will inform a subscribing member of its executions in a particular day and provide a link to the details of those executions, which is provided by TradeInfo.
BX notes that an identical QView service is currently offered by its sister exchange, The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC for a fee of $600 per month, per member firm. BX is proposing to offer QView at no cost at the present time, but may assess a fee in the future. If it determines to assess a fee, the Exchange will file a rule change proposal with the Commission.
See NASDAQ Rule 7058.
2. Statutory Basis
The Exchange believes the proposed rule change is consistent with Section 6(b)(5) of the Act, which requires that the rules of an exchange be designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices, promote just and equitable principles of trade, foster cooperation and coordination with persons engaged in regulating, clearing, settling, processing information with respect to, and facilitating transactions in securities, remove impediments to and perfect the mechanism of a free and open market and a national market system, and, in general, protect investors and the public interest. The Exchange believes the proposed rule change is consistent with these requirements because the proposed service provides subscribing members with a useful analytical tool with which they may access information concerning their order and trade activity occurring on the Exchange. With this information, subscribing members may more closely monitor and analyze such activity, and make more informed investment decisions. Accordingly, the Exchange believes that the proposed service will further goals of the Act by providing subscribing members with greater transparency with respect to their order activity on the Exchange. As noted above, the proposed QView service is identical to the NASDAQ QView service currently offered to NASDAQ members.
B. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement on Burden on Competition
The Exchange 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, the proposed rule change is pro-competitive in that it will allow the Exchange to disseminate a new service on a voluntary basis. QView is voluntary on the part of the Exchange, which is not required to offer such products and services, and voluntary on the part of prospective users that are not required to use it and may obtain the information from other sources.
C. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement on Comments on the Proposed Rule Change Received From Members, Participants, or Others
Written comments were neither solicited nor received.
III. Date of Effectiveness of the Proposed Rule Change and Timing for Commission Action
Because the foregoing proposed rule change: (1) Does not significantly affect the protection of investors or the public interest; (2) does not impose any significant burden on competition; and (3) by its terms does not become operative for 30 days after the date of this filing, or such shorter time as the Commission may designate if consistent with the protection of investors and the public interest, the proposed rule change has become effective pursuant to Section 19(b)(3)(A) of the Act and Rule 19b-4(f)(6) thereunder.
17 CFR 240.19b-4(f)(6).
A proposed rule change filed under 19b-4(f)(6) normally may not become operative prior to 30 days after the date of filing. However, Rule 19b-4(f)(6)(iii) permits the Commission to designate a shorter time if such action is consistent with the protection of investors and the public interest. The Exchange has requested that the Commission waive the 30-day operative delay so that it may offer QView at the earliest reasonable time possible. The Exchange notes that the services offered by BX QView are identical to services offered by NASDAQ's QView. The Commission believes that waiving the 30-day operative delay is consistent with the protection of investors and the public interest because such waiver would allow the Exchange to immediately offer its QView service so members may benefit immediately by tracking their order flow on the Exchange. For this reason, the Commission designates the proposed rule change to be operative upon the operative date of the Filing.
17 CFR 240.19b-4(f)(6)(iii). In addition, Rule 19b-4(f)(6) requires a self-regulatory organization to give the Commission written notice of its intent to file the proposed rule change at least five business days prior to the date of filing of the proposed rule change, or such shorter time as designated by the Commission. The Exchange has satisfied this requirement.
Id.
For the purposes only of waiving the 30-day operative delay, the Commission has considered the proposed rule's impact on efficiency, competition, and capital formation. See 15 U.S.C. 78c(f).
At any time within 60 days of the filing of such 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 rule-comments@sec.gov. Please include File Number SR-BX-2012-061 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.
All submissions should refer to File Number SR-BX-2012-061. 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 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-BX-2012-061 and should be submitted on or before October 26, 2012.
For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated authority.
Kevin M. O'Neill,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2012-24573 Filed 10-4-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P