The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday voted to undertake a proposed pilot that would subject stock exchange transaction fee pricing, including “maker-taker” fee-and-rebate pricing models, to restrictions across three test groups, and require the exchanges to prepare and publicly post data.
The proposed pilot would apply to all national market system stocks and would include all equities exchanges, including “taker-maker” exchanges.
The test groups would include one that would prohibit rebates and linked pricing, along with groups that would impose caps for removing or providing displayed liquidity at two different price levels. The test would last for up to two years.
“The proposed pilot is designed to generate data that will provide the commission, market participants, and the public with information to facilitate an informed, data-driven discussion about transaction fees and rebates and their impact on order routing behavior, execution quality, and market quality in general,” says Jay Clayton, SEC chairman, in a statement.