Tick Pilot Rollout and Testing Opportunities

IEX Trading Alert #2016 - 050

Overview

In accordance with the Tick Size Pilot Plan, the Tick Size Pilot Plan Operating Committee announced key steps and dates associated with the rollout of the Plan scheduled to begin on Monday, October 3, 2016.

Tick Size Pilot Implementation

After consultation with industry participants, the Operating Committee will commence the Tick Size Pilot Program on Monday, October 3, 2016 using a phased in approach similar to other industry-wide implementations and individual exchange technology rollouts.

Below is a table outlining the timeline and process. Securities assigned to Test Groups will be phased-in alphabetically.

Date Action Additional Details
Oct 3rd
  • 5 Symbols - Test Group 1
  • 5 Symbols - Test Group 2
  • All other symbols assigned to TG1, TG2, or TG3 will be placed into the Control Group until they are activated in their respective group.
  • NYSE, Nasdaq, and FINRA symbol lists will be updated accordingly.
Oct 10th
  • 100 Symbols - Test Group 1
  • 100 Symbols - Test Group 2
Oct 17th
  • 400 Symbols - Test Group 1
  • 400 Symbols - Test Group 2
  • 5 Symbols - Test Group 3
  • All Test Group 1 and 2 symbols are live.
Oct 24th
  • 100 Symbols - Test Group 3
Oct 31st
  • 400 Symbols - Test Group 3
  • All Test Group 3 symbols are live.

Eligible Securities List

  • The New York Stock Exchange and NYSE MKT (NYSE Group) and the Nasdaq Stock Market (Nasdaq) published an automated list of securities eligible for the Tick Size Pilot on the evening of September 2, 2016. At that time, all securities were designated for the Control Group.
  • FINRA will pick up the lists and publish the consolidated downloadable list on FINRA.org each night by 2 a.m. EST beginning on September 3, 2016. A daily change list will be published for this automated list every day.
  • All securities will continue to be reflected as Control Group securities for the entire month of September.
  • Starting on October 3, 2016, as securities are moved into their designated Test Group, as determined by the phase in schedule above, the security will move from the Control Group to the applicable Test Group in the daily list.

Test Group Assignment List

  • NYSE Group and Nasdaq published a manual list on September 6, 2016 identifying the final Test Group assignment for each eligible security.
  • FINRA obtained the lists from NYSE Group and Nasdaq to create a consolidated document which was published on FINRA.org on September 6, 2016 after NYSE and Nasdaq posted the lists on their websites.
  • NYSE Group and Nasdaq will publish any changes to the lists on their respective websites and FINRA will pick up any changes and publish those on FINRA.org.
  • This list will no longer be published once implementation has completed.

Industry Testing Opportunities

The Exchanges and SIPs have selected the below dates for the Tick Size Pilot Program industry weekend tests. IEX will support the final test group assignments for all symbols during the weekend tests.

  • Saturday, September 10, 2016
  • Saturday, September 17, 2016
  • Saturday, October 1, 2016

For each of these dates, the IEX Production system will be available from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. ET to support Tick Pilot testing.

  • 8:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. ET: Pre-Market Session
  • 9:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. ET: Regular Market Session
  • 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. ET: Post-Market Session

Intraday Testing in the Production Environment

See below schedule for test symbol availability in the production environment:

  • Wednesday, September 21, 2016: ZVZZT, ZAZZT, ZBZZT, NTEST, NTEST A, NTEST B
  • Wednesday, October 5, 2016: ZCZZT, NTEST C

More Information

Please contact IEX Market Operations or Sales with any questions:

About IEX

IEX is on a mission to build fairer markets. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in New York City, IEX introduced its first trading venue in 2013 and launched as a U.S. stock exchange in 2016. IEX is the stock exchange that believes that every investor has the right to trade on equal and fair terms, on every trade. Learn more at: iextrading.com.