[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 82 (Thursday, April 28, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25328-25332]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-09044]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

[Release No. 34-94788; File No. SR-CboeBZX-2021-078]


Self-Regulatory Organizations; Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc.; Notice of 
Filing of a Proposed Rule Change, as Modified by Amendment No. 1, To 
Introduce a New Data Product To Be Known as the Short Volume Report

April 22, 2022.
    On November 17, 2021, Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. (the ``Exchange'' or 
``BZX'') filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission 
(``Commission''), pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) \1\ of the Securities 
Exchange Act of 1934 (``Act'') \2\ and Rule 19b-4 thereunder,\3\ a 
proposed rule change to amend Exchange Rule 11.22(f) to introduce a new 
data product to be known as the Short Volume Report. The proposed rule 
change was published for comment in the Federal Register on December 7, 
2021.\4\ On January 20, 2022, pursuant to Section 19(b)(2) of the 
Act,\5\ the Commission designated a longer period within which to 
approve the proposed rule change, disapprove the proposed rule change, 
or institute proceedings to determine whether to disapprove the 
proposed rule change.\6\ On March 7, 2022, the Commission instituted 
proceedings under Section 19(b)(2)(B) of the Act \7\ to determine 
whether to approve or disapprove the proposed rule change.\8\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).
    \2\ 15 U.S.C. 78a.
    \3\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4.
    \4\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 93688 (December 1, 
2021), 86 FR 69319. The comment letters received on the proposed 
rule change are available on the Commission's website at: https://www.sec.gov/comments/sr-cboebzx-2021-078/srcboebzx2021078.htm.
    \5\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(2).
    \6\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 94010, 87 FR 4075 
(January 26, 2022). The Commission designated March 7, 2022, as the 
date by which it should approve, disapprove, or institute 
proceedings to determine whether to disapprove the proposed rule 
change.
    \7\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(2)(B).
    \8\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 94372, 87 FR 14053 
(March 11, 2022).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    On March 30, 2022, the Exchange filed Amendment No. 1 to the 
proposed rule change, which superseded the proposed rule change as 
originally filed. Amendment No. 1 to the proposed rule change is 
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, as modified by Amendment No. 1, 
from interested persons.

I. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Terms of Substance 
of the Proposed Rule Change

    Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. (the ``Exchange'' or ``BZX'') is filing 
with the Securities and Exchange Commission (``Commission'') a proposed 
rule change to Exchange Rule 11.22(f) to introduce a new data product 
to be known as the Short Volume Report. The text of the proposed rule 
change is provided in Exhibit 5.
    The text of the proposed rule change is also available on the 
Exchange's website (http://markets.cboe.com/us/equities/regulation/rule_filings/bzx/), at the Exchange's Office of the Secretary, 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 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
    This Amendment No. 1 to SR-BZX-2021-078 amends and replaces in its 
entirety the proposal as originally submitted on November 17, 2021. The 
Exchange submits this Amendment No. 1 in order to clarify certain 
points and add additional details to the proposal.
    The Exchange proposes to amend Rule 11.22(f) to provide for a new 
data product to be known as the Short Volume Report. The proposal 
introduces the Short Volume Report which will be available for purchase 
to BZX Members (``Members'') \9\ and non-Members. The Exchange notes 
that the proposed Short Volume Report generally consists of information 
similar to that included in various data products offered by the Nasdaq 
Stock Market LLC (``Nasdaq'') and the New York Stock Exchange LLC 
(``NYSE''), and/or information that is currently available or 
determinable from other publicly available sources such as Cboe

[[Page 25329]]

DataShop,\10\ the Cboe website,\11\ or the CTA and UTP feeds made 
available by the Securities Information Processor (``SIP''), the only 
exception being the proposed transaction counts related to sell short 
and sell short exempt.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \9\ See Rule 1.5(n).
    \10\ See Equity and ETF Trades Data [verbar] Subscription 
(cboe.com).
    \11\ See Cboe BZX U.S. Equities Exchange Short Sale Reports.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    A description of each market data product offered by the Exchange 
is described in Exchange Rule 11.22. The Exchange proposes to amend 
Rule 11.22(f) to introduce and add a description of the Short Volume 
Report. The Exchange proposes to describe the Short Volume Report as 
``an end-of-day report that summarizes certain equity trading activity 
on the Exchange, including trade count and volume by symbol for buy, 
sell long, sell short, and sell short exempt trades. The report also 
includes the total volume which represents the sum of all shares for 
buy, sell, sell short, and sell short exempt trades.'' \12\ 
Specifically, the end-of-day report will include the following 
information: Trade date,\13\ symbol,\14\ total volume,\15\ buy 
volume,\16\ buy trade count,\17\ sell long volume,\18\ sell long trade 
count,\19\ sell short volume,\20\ sell short trade count,\21\ sell 
short exempt volume,\22\ and sell short exempt trade count.\23\ As 
discussed in further detail below, the Exchange notes that, with the 
exception of short sale and short sale exempt transaction counts, all 
components of the proposed Short Volume Report are either data points 
similar to those provided by NYSE and Nasdaq,\24\ and/or attainable 
from existing publicly available data sources such as the SIP, the Cboe 
website, or Cboe DataShop. The Exchange believes that the consolidation 
and presentation of data as proposed in the Short Volume Report will 
benefit market participants because such report will allow market 
participants to better discern whether daily sell activity is long or 
short, or sell short exempt. Such insight may aid participants in 
better understanding the changing risk environment on a daily basis.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \12\ Information provided in the report includes only trade 
data, and does not include order data.
    \13\ Trade date refers to the date of trading activity.
    \14\ Symbol refers to the Cboe formatted symbol in which the 
trading activity occurred. See https://cdn.cboe.com/resources//_Symbology_Reference.pdf.
    \15\ Total volume is the total share volume of all buy, sell 
long, sell short, and sell short exempt order executions and is 
equal to the sum of buy volume, sell long volume, sell short volume, 
and sell short exempt volume.
    \16\ Buy volume is the total share volume of all buy order 
executions and is equal to the sum of sell long volume, sell short 
volume, and sell short exempt volume.
    \17\ Buy trade count is the total trade count of all buy order 
executions and is equal to the sum of sell long trade count, sell 
short trade count, and sell short exempt trade count.
    \18\ Sell long volume is the total share volume of all sell long 
order executions.
    \19\ Sell long trade count is the total trade count of all sell 
long order executions.
    \20\ Sell short volume is the total share volume of all sell 
short order executions and will not include sell short exempt 
volume.
    \21\ Sell short trade count is the total trade count of all sell 
short order executions and will not include short sale exempt 
trades.
    \22\ Sell short exempt volume is the total share volume of all 
sell short exempt order executions.
    \23\ Sell short exempt trade count is the total trade count of 
all sell short exempt order executions.
    \24\ The Exchange notes that Nasdaq's comparable product, the 
Daily Short Sale Volume file, reflects aggregate information across 
their affiliated equity exchanges. The Exchange is not proposing an 
aggregated Short Volume Report across its affiliated equity 
exchanges, and the proposal includes only volume and trade counts 
executed on BZX. As such, the volumes calculated on Nasdaq reports 
will differ from that in the proposed Short Volume Report.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Short Volume Report will be available for purchase \25\ on a 
monthly subscription basis and both Members and non-Member subscribers 
will receive a daily end-of-day file that will be delivered after the 
conclusion of the After Hours Trading Session.\26\ Additionally, 
historical Short Volume Reports dating as far back as January 2, 2015 
will be available for purchase on an ad hoc basis in monthly 
increments. The subscription files and historical files will include 
the same data points. Lastly, the Exchange notes the proposed product 
is a completely voluntary product, in that the Exchange is not required 
by any rule or regulation to make this data available and that 
potential subscribers may subscribe to it only if they voluntarily 
choose to do so.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \25\ The Exchange intends to submit a separate rule filing to 
adopt fees for the Short Volume Report product.
    \26\ See Exchange Rule 1.5(c).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Statutory Basis
    The Exchange believes the proposed rule change is consistent with 
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the ``Act'') and the rules and 
regulations thereunder applicable to the Exchange and, in particular, 
the requirements of Section 6(b) of the Act.\27\ Specifically, the 
Exchange believes the proposed rule change is consistent with the 
Section 6(b)(5) \28\ requirements that the rules of an exchange be 
designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices, to 
promote just and equitable principles of trade, to foster cooperation 
and coordination with persons engaged in regulating, clearing, 
settling, processing information with respect to, and facilitating 
transactions in securities, 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. Additionally, 
the Exchange believes the proposed rule change is consistent with the 
Section 6(b)(5) \29\ requirement that the rules of an exchange not be 
designed to permit unfair discrimination between customers, issuers, 
brokers, or dealers.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \27\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b).
    \28\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5).
    \29\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In adopting Regulation NMS, the Commission granted self-regulatory 
organizations (``SROs'') and broker-dealers increased authority and 
flexibility to offer new and unique market data to the public. It was 
believed that this authority would expand the amount of data available 
to consumers, and also spur innovation and competition for the 
provision of market data. In this regard, the Exchange believes that 
the proposed Short Volume Report would further broaden the availability 
of U.S. equity market data to investors consistent with the principles 
of Regulation NMS. The proposal also promotes increased transparency of 
short sale data, which benefits investors by fostering better informed 
trading.
    As noted above, aside from the proposed sell short and sell short 
exempt transaction counts, the proposed Short Volume Report consists of 
information similar to that included in various data products offered 
Nasdaq and NYSE, and/or information that is available or determinable 
from other publicly available sources such as Cboe DataShop,\30\ the 
Cboe website,\31\ or the SIP. The Exchange notes that short sale 
information that is available free of charge on the Cboe website will 
continue to be publicly available upon approval of the proposal.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \30\ Supra note 4.
    \31\ Supra note 5.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Trade Date and Symbol
    The proposed data points for trade date and symbol are generally 
available from numerous data sources, such as the Nasdaq Daily Short 
Sale Volume files. The Nasdaq Daily Short Sale Volume files ``reflect 
the aggregate number of shares executed on the Nasdaq market during 
regular trading hours on a daily basis. At the security level, Nasdaq 
will show the volume for executed short sale trades, as well as the 
total trading volume for the Nasdaq market.'' \32\ Specifically, the 
Nasdaq Daily Short Sale Volume files provide the date, which is defined 
as the trade date of a

[[Page 25330]]

transaction, and the symbol, which is defined as the trading symbol, 
for trading activity on Nasdaq.\33\ As proposed, the Exchange seeks to 
provide trade date and symbol information consistent with how the 
Nasdaq Daily Short Volume files capture these data points.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \32\ See Nasdaq Pricing Schedule, Section 152(a).
    \33\ See https://nasdaqtrader.com/content/technicalsupport/specifications/dataproducts/ShortSaleFileSpecifications.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Total Volume
    As noted above, the proposed total volume data point is equal to 
the sum of all buy, sell, sell short, and sell short exempt trades. The 
Exchange notes that the proposed total volume data point can be derived 
from the SIP, as well through information made available through 
reports on Cboe DataShop \34\ or other vendors.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \34\ Supra note 4.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Additionally, the proposed total volume data point is similar in 
nature to that offered in the NYSE Daily Short Volume file and Nasdaq 
Daily Short Sale file. The NYSE Daily Short Volume file provides a 
daily summary report of short sale volume for every equity symbol 
traded on NYSE, NYSE American LLC, NYSE Arca, Inc., NYSE National, 
Inc., and NYSE Chicago, Inc. (collectively, the ``NYSE affiliated 
exchanges'') during the day.\35\ NYSE describes total volume as ``the 
total share volume of all order executions.'' \36\ Similarly, the 
Nasdaq Daily Short Sale Volume file provides total volume, which is 
described as the ``[a]ggregate reported share volume of executed short 
sale trades during regular trading hours.'' \37\ As noted above, the 
proposed Short Volume Report will include total volume comprised of the 
total share volume of all buy, sell long, sell short, and sell short 
exempt order executions, and is equal to the sum of buy volume, sell 
long volume, sell short volume, and sell short exempt volume. 
Therefore, the proposed total volume represents both the buy-side and 
sell-side of each execution. In contrast, the NYSE and Nasdaq products 
represent total volume as one side of the execution (e.g., the buy-side 
of each execution or the total share volume of the executions). Thus, 
information similar to the Exchange's total volume could be determined 
by simply doubling the total volume identified in the NYSE Daily Short 
Volume file or the Nasdaq Short Sale Volume file. Given this, the 
proposed total volume is a data point already available to the public, 
and raises no novel issues. Furthermore, the Exchange believes that 
providing the sum of buy volume, sell long volume, sell short volume, 
and sell short exempt volume as proposed will serve as an integrity 
check for each of the volume fields. Specifically, if total volume does 
not equal the sum of the aforementioned volume fields, subscribers 
could easily identify a potential error in the data. Therefore, the 
Exchange believes the data point as proposed may provide greater 
benefits to subscribers than similar data points offered in competing 
products.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \35\ See the NYSE Daily Short Volume Client Specification, 
Section 1, Introduction at https://www.nyse.com/publicdocs/nyse/data/_Short_Volume_Client__v1.3.pdf.
    \36\ Id.
    \37\ Supra note 27.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Buy Volume
    The proposed buy volume data point is the total share volume of all 
buy order executions and is equal to the sum of sell long volume, sell 
short volume, and sell short exempt volume. Exchange buy volume is 
publicly available via the SIP, as well as through reports on Cboe 
DataShop \38\ and other vendors.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \38\ Supra note 4. Buy volume available on Cboe DataShop is 
equivalent to the proposed buy volume.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Additionally, the NYSE Daily Short Sale file and Nasdaq Daily Short 
Volume file currently provides similar information. As described above, 
the Nasdaq and NYSE products each provide ``total volume'' which is 
equivalent to the buy volume as proposed in the Short Volume Report. 
The only difference between the proposal and the NYSE and Nasdaq data 
points is that the proposed Short Volume Report includes only 
information related to trades executed on the Exchange, whereas the 
NYSE and Nasdaq includes only information related to trades executed on 
NYSE and Nasdaq, respectively, and their affiliates. Therefore, buy 
volume is a data point already provided for in other exchange products, 
and as such, the buy volume proposed by the Exchange presents no unique 
issues.
Buy Trade Count
    Trade count information for trades executed on the Exchange is 
currently publicly available via the SIP, as well as through reports on 
Cboe DataShop \39\ and other vendors. Specifically, the Equity, ETF, 
and Index Trades product offered on Cboe DataShop provides trade price, 
trade size, trade condition, trading venue, and the National Best Bid 
and Offer (``NBBO'') for each trade record on a daily basis. Therefore, 
buy trade count for trades executed on the Exchange can be derived from 
the Equity, ETF, and Index Trades product by summing the number of 
trade records on BZX for the day. Accordingly, buy trade count is a 
data point already available to the public and thus present no new 
novel issues.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \39\ Supra note 4. For purposes of this proposal, the trade size 
data point from Cboe DataShop is the same as the proposed buy volume 
data point.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sell Long Volume
    As proposed, sell long volume represents the total share volume of 
all sell long order executions. The Exchange notes that other 
exchanges, such as NYSE, offer products with related data points that 
users can utilize to calculate sell long volume as contemplated by the 
proposed Short Volume Report. Specifically, the NYSE Daily Short Volume 
File provides the total volume (i.e., the total share volume of all 
order executions) and the short volume (i.e., the total share volume of 
all short order executions, which is the sum of all sell short, sell 
short exempt, and sell short with slide order executions).\40\ 
Therefore, sell long information could be derived from the NYSE Daily 
Short Volume file by subtracting the short volume from the total 
volume. As such, sell long volume is not a data point unique only to 
the proposed Short Volume Report, and does not raise any novel issues 
or concerns.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \40\ Supra note 27.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sell Long Trade Count
    As proposed, sell long trade count represents the total trade count 
of all sell long order executions. Currently, this data can be derived 
using publicly available information available in the Short Sale Daily 
Reports which are available on the Cboe website,\41\ and the Equity, 
ETF, and Index Trades product available on Cboe DataShop.\42\ 
Specifically, the Short Sale Daily Transaction report on the Cboe 
website reflects short sale executions on the Exchange as they appeared 
on the consolidated tape. Short sale and short sale exempt trade count 
information can be determined summing the total number of transactions 
identified in the Short Sale Daily Transaction report. Long sale trade 
count could then be determined by subtracting the short sale 
transaction count from the buy trade count, which can be obtained from 
Cboe DataShop \43\ as described above. Because sell long trade count 
can be calculated from existing publicly available information it 
presents no novel issues.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \41\ Supra note 5.
    \42\ Supra note 4.
    \43\ Id.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

[[Page 25331]]

Sell Short Volume and Sell Short Exempt Volume
    The sell short volume and sell short exempt volume in the proposed 
Short Volume Report is similar to a data point currently offered 
through NYSE's Daily Short Volume file. Specifically, the NYSE Daily 
Short Volume file includes both short volume and sell short exempt 
volume for shares executed on NYSE and its affiliates.\44\ Accordingly, 
the provision of separate sell short volume and sell short exempt 
volume is not without precedent. The only difference in the data from 
the NYSE Daily Short Volume file and the proposed data is that the NYSE 
report includes only information related to trades executed on the NYSE 
affiliated exchanges, whereas the Short Volume Report includes only 
information related to trades executed on the Exchange.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \44\ Supra note 27.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sell Short Trade Count and Sell Short Exempt Trade Count
    As noted above, the Short Volume Report will include both a sell 
short trade count and a sell short exempt trade count. The sell short 
trade count is equal to the total trade count of sell short order 
executions. The short sell exempt trade count is equal to the total 
trade count of sell short exempt orders.
    Today, sell short and sell short exempt trade counts are not 
available or easily derivable in existing market data products or 
publicly available information. However, the Short Sale Daily 
Transaction report available on the Cboe website \45\ provides a short 
sale trade count consisting of combined sell short and sell short 
exemptions. The Exchange believes that bifurcating sell short trade 
counts and sell short exempt trade counts will benefit investors by 
providing insight into the risk environment around a security subject 
to the restrictions of Regulation SHO Rule 201.\46\ As a general 
matter, when a security becomes subject to the short sale price 
restrictions of Rule 201, it is because that security's price is 
experiencing extreme downward price pressure. In adopting Rule 201, the 
Commission believed it was appropriate to adopt a short sale-related 
circuit breaker because, when triggered, it will prevent short selling, 
including potentially manipulative or abusive short selling, from 
driving down further the price of a security that has already 
experienced a significant intra-day price decline. A sale order shall 
be marked ``short exempt'' only if the provisions of Rule 201(c) or 
201(d) are met.\47\ Rule 201(c), for example, generally allows a 
broker-dealer to mark a sale ``short exempt'' if the broker-dealer 
identifies the order as being at a price above the current national 
best bid at the time of submission of the order to a trading center. In 
part, the Commission believed that Rule 201 would effectively restrict 
short sellers from participating as liquidity takers when Rule 201 is 
in effect, and instead act as liquidity providers, adding depth to the 
market, as short sale orders will be executed only when purchasers 
arrive willing to buy at prices above the national best bid.\48\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \45\ Supra note 5.
    \46\ 17 CFR 242.201.
    \47\ 17 CFR 242.200(g)(2).
    \48\ Id. at 58.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In this sense, by having the ability to ascertain specific short 
exempt trade counts, subscribers may be better able to assess the 
qualitative nature of sell side activity in a particular security. A 
marked increase or decrease in short exempt trade count can perhaps 
indicate whether investors are willing to pay a higher price for a 
security, rather than seek buying opportunities at lower prices as the 
stock continues to decline. Therefore, the Exchange believes the 
proposal will provide greater benefits to subscribers compared to what 
is currently available on the Cboe website, and does not represent a 
significant departure from information that is currently available.
    Furthermore, similar data points are derivable from the NYSE's 
Monthly Short Sales file, which provides a record of every short sale 
transaction for each security traded on the NYSE affiliated exchanges 
during the month.\49\ Specifically, the NYSE Monthly Short Sale file 
includes a ``short type'' indicator for each transaction that indicates 
whether the short sale is short sale exempt or not short sale exempt 
and also includes the size of each transaction.\50\ Therefore, 
subscribers to the NYSE Monthly Short Sales file can determine the sell 
short trade counts and sell short exempt trade counts by summing the 
number of each transaction on a given day during the prior month. 
Although the NYSE Monthly Short Sale file provides similar data points 
to that proposed here, such information is available on a monthly basis 
rather than a daily basis. Nonetheless, as proposed the sell short and 
sell short exempt trade counts would be available to subscribers on an 
end-of-day basis it is not designed to provide information for which 
subscribers would make intraday trading decisions. Therefore, the 
Exchange does not believe the proposed data points would provide 
subscribers with an unfair advantage over other market participants. 
The Exchange believes the proposal strikes an appropriate balance in 
providing useful information to subscribers that is not a significant 
departure from existing information, but does not provide subscribers 
with sensitive information for which subscribers would make intraday 
trading decisions.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \49\ See the NYSE Monthly Short Sales Client Specification, 
Section 1, Introduction, at https://www.nyse.com/publicdocs/nyse/data/Monthly_Short_Sales__Client_Spec_v1.3.pdf.
    \50\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In sum, except for short sale and short sale exempt trade counts, 
each of the data points included in the proposed Short Volume Report 
are currently either available or derivable from a product of a 
competitor exchange or are publicly available. The Exchange seeks to 
gather information from each of these separate data points and compile 
such information into a useful format such as the proposed Short Volume 
Report. The Exchange believes that the proposed product will benefit 
market participants because consolidating the aforementioned data 
points in a single data product will allow market participants to more 
easily understand the changing risk environment on a daily basis and 
allow for more informed trading decisions. The information included in 
the proposed Short Volume Report will be provided on an end-of-day 
basis and will not provide information on an intraday basis. 
Nonetheless, subscribers will have access to not only the current end-
of-day Short Volume Report, but historical end-of-day reports dating 
back to January 2, 2015. As such, the Exchange believes the proposal 
will provide subscribers with valuable information that may help in 
identifying historical price trends and short sale activity in a 
specific security. The proposal provides trade volume and trade count 
information but provides nothing to indicate who is responsible for 
selling pressure in a given security. Further, the proposal only 
provides information as it relates to transactions and provides no 
order information. Given this, combined with the general availability 
of the information comprising the Short Volume Report, the Exchange 
does not believe that the proposed Short Volume Report provides users 
or subscribers with sensitive trading information or an unfair 
competitive advantage.
    Finally, as noted above the proposed Short Sale Report is a 
completely voluntary product, and participants are not required to 
subscribe to the Short Volume Report. Moreover, the Short Volume Report 
is available to all

[[Page 25332]]

potential users, regardless of size. Therefore, the Exchange believes 
the proposed rule change is reasonable, equitable and not unfairly 
discriminatory.

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. Rather, the 
Exchange believes that the proposal will promote competition by 
permitting the Exchange to offer a data product that provides data 
similar to that offered by other competitor equities exchanges or data 
that is currently publicly available via the SIP, the Cboe website or 
DataShop, or other vendors. Any differences in the proposed product to 
similar products offered by competing exchanges are intended to better 
understand the changing risk environment on a daily basis. The Exchange 
is proposing to introduce the Short Volume Report in order to keep pace 
with changes in the industry and evolving customer needs and believes 
this proposed rule change would contribute to robust competition among 
national securities exchanges. Further, the Exchange believes this 
proposed rule change permits fair competition among national securities 
exchanges.
    The Short Volume Report will be available equally to all Members 
and non-Members that choose to subscribe to such report. As stated, the 
Short Volume Report is optional and Members and non-Members may choose 
to subscribe, or not, based on their view of the additional benefits 
and added value provided by utilizing the Short Volume Report. Given 
the above, the Exchange does not believe 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.

C. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement on Comments on the Proposed 
Rule Change Received From Members, Participants, or Others

    The Exchange neither solicited nor received comments on the 
proposed rule change.

III. Solicitation of Comments

    Interested persons are invited to submit written data, views, and 
arguments concerning the foregoing, including whether the proposed rule 
change, as modified by Amendment No. 1, 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 [email protected]. Please include 
File Number SR-CboeBZX-2021-078 on the subject line.

Paper Comments

     Send paper comments in triplicate to Secretary, Securities 
and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street NE, Washington, DC 20549-1090.

All submissions should refer to File Number SR-CboeBZX-2021-078. 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 website (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 website 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 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. Persons submitting comments are 
cautioned that we do not redact or edit personal identifying 
information from comment submissions. You should submit only 
information that you wish to make available publicly. All submissions 
should refer to File Number SR-CboeBZX-2021-078 and should be submitted 
on or before May 19, 2022.

    For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets, 
pursuant to delegated authority.\51\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \51\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(12).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

J. Matthew DeLesDernier,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2022-09044 Filed 4-27-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P


