[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 240 (Wednesday, December 15, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 78302-78304]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-31483]
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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
[Release No. 34-63505; File No. SR-NASDAQ-2010-162]
Self-Regulatory Organizations; The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC;
Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed Rule Change To
Extend the Pilot Period of the Trading Pause for Individual Stocks
Contained in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, Russell 1000 Index, and
Specified Exchange Traded Products That Experience a Price Change of
10% or More During a Five-Minute Period
December 9, 2010.
Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
(``Act''),\1\ and Rule 19b-4 \2\ thereunder, notice is hereby given
that on December 7, 2010, The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC (``Nasdaq'' 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.
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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 extend the pilot period of the trading
pause for individual stocks contained in the Standard & Poor's 500
Index, Russell 1000 Index, and specified Exchange Traded Products that
experience a price change of 10% or more during a five-minute period,
so that the pilot will now expire on April 11, 2011.
The text of the proposed rule change is below. Proposed new
language is in italics; proposed deletions are in brackets.
* * * * *
4120. Trading Halts
(a) Authority To Initiate Trading Halts or Pauses
In circumstances in which Nasdaq deems it necessary to protect
investors and the public interest, Nasdaq, pursuant to the procedures
set forth in paragraph (c):
(1)-(10) No change.
(11) shall, between 9:45 a.m. and 3:35 p.m., or in the case of an
early scheduled close, 25 minutes before the close of trading,
immediately pause trading for 5 minutes in any Nasdaq-listed security
when the price of such security moves 10 percent or more within a 5-
minute period. At the end of the trading pause, Nasdaq will re-open the
security using the Halt Cross process set forth in Nasdaq Rule 4753. In
the event of a significant imbalance at the end of a trading pause,
Nasdaq may delay the re-opening of a security.
Nasdaq will issue a notification if it cannot resume trading for a
reason other than a significant imbalance.
Price moves under this paragraph will be calculated by changes in
each consolidated last-sale price disseminated by a network processor
over a five-minute rolling period measured continuously. Only regular
way in-sequence transactions qualify for use in calculations of price
moves. Nasdaq can exclude a transaction price from use if it concludes
that the transaction price resulted from an erroneous trade.
If a trading pause is triggered under this paragraph, Nasdaq shall
immediately notify the single plan processor responsible for
consolidation of information for the security pursuant to Rule 603 of
Regulation NMS under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. If a primary
listing market issues an individual stock trading pause, Nasdaq will
pause trading in that security until trading has resumed on the primary
[[Page 78303]]
listing market or notice has been received from the primary listing
market that trading may resume. If the primary listing market does not
reopen within 10 minutes of notification of a trading pause, Nasdaq may
resume trading the security.
The provisions of this paragraph shall only apply to securities in
the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, the Russell 1000 Index, as well as a
pilot list of Exchange Traded Products.
The provisions of this paragraph shall be in effect during a pilot
set to end on April 11, 2011 [December 10, 2010].
* * * * *
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 Exchange 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 these 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 aspects of such
statements.
A. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Purpose of, and
Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule Change
1. Purpose
On June 10, 2010, the Commission granted accelerated approval, for
a pilot period to end December 10, 2010, for a proposed rule change
submitted by the Exchange, together with related rule changes of the
BATS Exchange, Inc., NASDAQ OMX BX, Inc., Chicago Board Options
Exchange, Incorporated, Chicago Stock Exchange, Inc., EDGA Exchange,
Inc., EDGX Exchange, Inc., International Securities Exchange LLC, New
York Stock Exchange LLC, NYSE Amex LLC, NYSE Arca, Inc., and National
Stock Exchange, Inc. (collectively, the ``Exchanges''), to pause
trading during periods of extraordinary market volatility in S&P 500
stocks.\3\ The rules require the Listing Markets \4\ to issue five-
minute trading pauses for individual securities for which they are the
primary Listing Market if the transaction price of the security moves
ten percent or more from a price in the preceding five-minute period.
The Listing Markets are required to notify the other Exchanges and
market participants of the imposition of a trading pause by immediately
disseminating a special indicator over the consolidated tape. Under the
rules, once the Listing Market issues a trading pause, the other
Exchanges are required to pause trading in the security on their
markets. On September 10, 2010, the Commission approved the respective
rule filings of the Exchanges to expand application of the pilot to the
Russell 1000[supreg] Index and specified Exchange Traded Products.\5\
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\3\ Securities Exchange Act Release No. 62252 (June 10, 2010),
75 FR 34186 (June 16, 2010).
\4\ The term ``Listing Markets'' refers collectively to NYSE,
NYSE Amex, NYSE Arca, and NASDAQ.
\5\ Securities Exchange Act Release No. 62884 (September 10,
2010), 75 FR 56618 (September 16, 2010).
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The Exchange believes that the pilot program has been successful in
reducing the negative impacts of sudden, unanticipated price movements
in the securities covered by the pilot. The Exchange also believes that
an additional four-month extension of the pilot is warranted so that it
may continue to assess whether additional securities need to be added
and whether the parameters of the rule need to be modified to
accommodate trading characteristics of different securities.
Accordingly, the Exchange is filing to seek a four-month extension of
the existing pilot.
2. Statutory Basis
The statutory basis for the proposed rule change is Section 6(b)(5)
of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the ``Act''),\6\ which requires
the rules of an exchange to promote just and equitable principles of
trade, to remove impediments to and perfect the mechanism of a free and
open market and a national market system and, in general, to protect
investors and the public interest. The proposed rule change also is
designed to support the principles of Section 11A(a)(1) \7\ of the Act
in that it seeks to assure fair competition among brokers and dealers
and among exchange markets. The Exchange believes that the proposed
rule meets these requirements in that it promotes transparency and
uniformity across markets concerning decisions to pause trading in a
security when there are significant price movements.
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\6\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5).
\7\ 15 U.S.C. 78k-1(a)(1).
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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
result in any burden on competition that is not necessary or
appropriate in furtherance of the purposes of the Act, as amended.
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 does not: (1)
Significantly affect the protection of investors or the public
interest; (2) impose any significant burden on competition; and (3)
become operative for 30 days from the date on which it was filed, or
such shorter time as the Commission may designate if consistent with
the protection of investors and the public interest, it has become
effective pursuant to Section 19(b)(3)(A) of the Act \8\ and Rule 19b-
4(f)(6) thereunder.\9\
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\8\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A).
\9\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4(f)(6). When filing a proposed rule change
pursuant to Rule 19b-4(f)(6) under the Act, an exchange is required
to give the Commission written notice of its intent to file the
proposed rule change, along with a brief description and text of 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 Commission notes that the Exchange
has satisfied this requirement.
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A proposed rule change filed under Rule 19b-4(f)(6) normally may
not become operative prior to 30 days after the date of filing.\10\
However, Rule 19b-4(f)(6) \11\ 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.
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\10\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4(f)(6)(iii).
\11\ Id.
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The Commission has considered the Exchange's request to waive the
30-day operative delay. The Commission believes that waiving the 30-day
operative delay is consistent with the protection of investors and the
public interest, as it will allow the pilot program to continue
uninterrupted, thereby avoiding the investor confusion that could
result from a temporary interruption in the pilot program.\12\
Therefore, the Commission designates the proposed rule change to be
operative upon filing.
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\12\ For the purposes only of waiving the operative date of this
proposal, the Commission has considered the proposed rule's impact
on efficiency, competition, and capital formation. See 15 U.S.C.
78c(f).
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At any time within 60 days of the filing of the proposed rule
change, the Commission summarily may temporarily suspend such rule
change if
[[Page 78304]]
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. If the Commission
takes such action, the Commission shall institute proceedings to
determine whether the proposed rule change should be approved or
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 e-mail to [email protected]. Please include
File Number SR-NASDAQ-2010-162 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-NASDAQ-2010-162. This
file number should be included on the subject line if e-mail 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 a.m. and 3 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-
NASDAQ-2010-162 and should be submitted on or before January 5, 2011.
For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets,
pursuant to delegated authority.\13\
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\13\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(12).
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Florence E. Harmon,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2010-31483 Filed 12-14-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P