SIP Operating Committees Seek Comment on Proposal to Add Odd Lot Quotes to Current SIP Data Feeds

New York, New York, March 28, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Operating Committees of the Securities Information Processors (“SIPs”) today announced that they have issued a proposal to add consolidated Odd Lot quotation data (“Odd Lot Quotations”) to the UTP and CTA/CQ data feeds. The Operating Committees are actively seeking input from the industry and the public for the next thirty days. The proposal is posted on the Consolidated Tape Association (“CTA”) www.ctaplan.com/oddlots and Unlisted Trading Privileges (“UTP”)  www.utpplan.com/oddlots websites, where all comments will be posted.

On October 2, 2019, the SIP Operating Committees of the CTA and UTP Plans (“OCs”) published for comment an initial proposal for the CTA and UTP SIPs to disseminate Odd Lot Quotations as ancillary information on the current SIP data feeds.  Overall, industry feedback on the October 2019 proposal was positive and supported the dissemination of Odd Lot Quotations.  Subsequently, the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed (and later approved) the Market Data Infrastructure Rule (“MDIR”) and the plan to add Odd Lot Quotations to the current data feeds was postponed. The MDIR contemplates that Odd Lot Quotations will be a part of the core data made available to competing consolidators and self-aggregators.

The OCs are first seeking comment on the following questions:

• Do data feed recipients want the current SIPs to proceed with adding Odd Lot Quotations in 2023 or wait for Odd Lot Quotations to be added once the MDIR has been implemented?
• If adding Odd Lot Quotations to the existing SIPs is preferred, would data recipients prefer Odd Lot Quotations be disseminated through a single, integrated feed, as reflected in this proposal, or a channel separate from existing SIP data?

Technical comments are also welcome.

Odd Lot Quotations are buy or sell orders for fewer shares than the standard order sizes set by the exchanges, known as round lots. For the vast majority of U.S. stocks, the round lot size is 100 shares. Quotes for odd lots of shares are not currently reported to the SIPs.  

As currently constructed, the OCs’ proposal does not plan for the addition of Odd Lot Quotations to change how the National Best Bid-Best Offer (“NBBO”) is calculated, nor would such quotes be considered protected quotes under Regulation NMS. The Odd Lot Quotations would be extra data available to SIP customers who could then choose how to use it.

Under the proposed plan, each individual exchange will send to the SIP Processors its Odd Lot top-of-book quotes whenever those quotes are at or better than the BBO on that individual Exchange. In turn, the SIPs will publish all these quotes on the tapes.  In addition, the SIPs will use the Odd Lot Quotations they receive from the Exchanges to calculate an “Odd Lot NBBO” and publish that on the tapes when the best of the Odd Lot quotes are at or better than the protected NBBO. 

The investing public is invited to view the Odd Lot Proposal and submit comments by visiting the CTA website at www.ctaplan.com/oddlots or the UTP website at www.utpplan.com/oddlots. Public comments will be accepted until April 27, 2022. Additional details are found on the web sites.

ABOUT THE SIPs

The SIPs link the U.S. markets by processing and consolidating all protected equities bid/ask quotes and trades from every registered exchange and FINRA’s Alternative Display Facility (ADF) into a single, easily consumable data feed. The SIPs are an asset unique to U.S. market structure and play a critical role in making the U.S. equities markets transparent and accessible to investors worldwide.

Although often referred to in the singular, there are actually two SIPs: the combined CTA (Consolidated Tape Association) and CQ (Consolidated Quotation System) SIP, and the UTP (Unlisted Trading Privileges) SIP. The CTA/CQ SIP is responsible for the dissemination of real‐time quote and trade information in New York Stock Exchange listed securities (sometimes called “Network A” or “Tape A” securities) and Cboe, NYSE Arca, NYSE American and other regional exchange listed securities (sometimes called “Network B” or “Tape B” securities). The UTP SIP is responsible for the dissemination of real‐time quote and trade information in Nasdaq listed securities (sometimes called “Network C” or “Tape C” securities). This structure has been in place since the late 1970s, when the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) mandated that all registered exchanges that trade Network A, B, or C securities send their trades and quotes to the SIPs for consolidated worldwide distribution.

Each SIP is governed by a National Market System (“NMS”) Plan and run by an Operating Committee (“OC”) comprised of its Plan Participants. The OCs are counseled by an Advisory Committee made up of individuals representing firms from across the industry and representing the diverse viewpoints of the market. Among other duties, the OCs set their individual Plan policies, select a Processor that is responsible for providing the technology to power it, and review the performance of both the Processor and the network administrators, which are responsible for the administrative functions for each SIP, such as contracting, billing, auditing, policy development and vendor relations. New York Stock Exchange serves as the Administrator for the CTA/CQ SIP Plans and the Securities Industry Automation Corporation is the Processor. Nasdaq business units serve as the Administrator and Processor for the UTP SIP.

One of the primary objectives of both SIPs is transparency. Both the CTA/CQ Operating Committee and UTP Operating Committee meet quarterly, and the summary of the General Sessions of those meetings are posted to their respective websites: www.ctaplan.com and www.utpplan.com. Also provided on those websites are their Plans’ announcements, policies, quarterly and monthly performance metrics, revenue information, pricing schedules, technical specifications and more.

Rafi Reguer
Forefront Communications for the SIP Operating Committees
+1 718-781-4946
[email protected]