[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 201 (Friday, October 17, 1997)] [Notices] [Pages 54147-54149] From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] [FR Doc No: 97-27544] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION [Release No. 34-39225; File No. SR-Phlx-97-32] Self-Regulatory Organizations; Philadelphia Stock Exchange, Inc.; Order Granting Approval to Proposed Rule Change Respecting the Public Order Exposure System for PACE Orders I. Introduction On June 30, 1997, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, Inc. (``Phlx'' or ``Exchange'') submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (``SEC'' or ``Commission''), pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (``Act'') \1\ and Rule 19b-4 thereunder,\2\ a proposed rule change to extend the duration of its automatic execution system order exposure time period for eligible orders from the current 15 seconds to 30 seconds. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- \1\ 15 U.S.C. Sec. 78s(b)(1). \2\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The proposed rule change was published for comment in Securities Exchange Act Release No. 38864 (July 23, 1997), 62 FR 40882 (July 30, 1997). No comments were received on the proposal. This order approves the proposed rule change. II. Description The operation of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Automatic Communication and Execution (``PACE'') System is governed by Phlx Rule 229 (``PACE Rule''). The PACE System is the Exchange's automatic order routing and executing system for securities on its equity trading floor. With respect to market orders entered into PACE, Supplementary Material .05 to the PACE Rule provides that, in \1/8\ point markets or greater, round-lot market orders up to 500 shares and partial round-lot (``PRL'') market orders up to 599 shares (i.e., orders that combine a round-lot with an odd-lot order) are stopped at the PACE Quote \3\ [[Page 54148]] at the time of their entry into PACE (``Stop Price'') in the Public Order Execution System (``POES''). In addition, market orders for more than 599 shares that a specialist voluntarily has agreed to execute automatically also are entitled to participate in POES.\4\ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- \3\ The PACE Quote consists of the best bid/offer among the American, Boston, Cincinnati, Chicago, New York, Pacific and Philadelphia Stock Exchanges as well as the Intermarket Trading System/Computer Assisted Execution System (``ITS/CAES''). See PACE Rule. \4\ See Supplementary Material .05 to the PACE Rule. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Supplementary Material .05 to the PACE Rule states that the purpose of stopping eligible market orders in POES is to allow such orders to receive an opportunity for price improvement. Supplementary Material .05 further states that if a stopped order is not executed within the applicable order exposure time period, or ``window,'' the order will be automatically executed at the Stop Price. Upon its adoption in early 1995, POES utilizes a 15 second order exposure window.\5\ Following Phlx Floor Procedure Committee (``FPC'') approval in December 1995, however, the Exchange increased the duration of the POES window from 15 to 30 seconds.\6\ At this time, the Exchange proposes to codify the 30 second time period into Supplementary Material .05, which currently reflects a 15 second window. The Exchange has represented that it believes that extending the POES window to 30 seconds enables the specialist to better gauge the market and thus, improves the likelihood of price improvement. Moreover, the Exchange stated that it has learned, in its two years of experience with POES, that additional time is needed for a meaningful opportunity for price improvement to be afforded to such orders. In this regard, the Exchange represented that the 30 second window better enables the specialist to locate between-the-market interest and probe other market centers.\7\ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- \5\ Securities Exchange Act Release No. 35283 (January 26, 1995), 60 FR 6333 (February 1, 1995) (File No. SR-Phlx-94-58). \6\ The Exchange has represented that by its oversight, this change was not filed with the SEC as a proposed rule change prior to its implementation pursuant to Section 19(b) of the Act and Rule 19b-4 thereunder. The Exchange contends that upon the discovery of this oversight in the course of drafting changes to the PACE Rule, the change was promptly filed with the SEC. See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 37479 (July 25, 1996), 61 FR 40276 (August 1, 1996) (File No. SR-Phlx-96-25). The Exchange has re-filed this change as a separate proposed rule change due to the withdrawal of File No. SR- Phlx-96-25. The Exchange represents that, to date, it has not distributed marketing material reflecting an order exposure window of 30 seconds. The Commission notes that Section 19(b) of the Act provides that each self-regulatory organization is required to file any proposed rule change with the Commission and that no proposed rule change shall take effect unless approved by the Commission or otherwise permitted in accordance with its provisions. \7\ In addition, the Exchange previously had stated its reasoning behind the expansion of the POES window to 30 seconds in an amendment letter respecting File No. SR-Phlx-96-25. See Letter from Gerald D. O'Connell, Senior Vice President, Phlx, to Jennifer Choi, Attorney, SEC, dated July 19, 1996. Specifically, the Exchange stated that the FPC recognized that 15 seconds was often too short of a time period for the specialist to act. In this regard, specialists has informed the Exchange that by the time they noticed an order was stopped, it had been automatically executed. The Exchange further stated that its decision to expand the POES window to 30 seconds ``is rooted in the logical principle that more time means more opportunity for price improvement.'' Id. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- III. Discussion For the reasons discussed below, the Commission finds that the proposed rule change is consistent with the requirements of the Act and the rules and regulations thereunder applicable to a national securities exchange, and, in particular, with the requirements of Section 6(b).\8\ In particular, the Commission believes the proposal is consistent with the Section 6(b)(5) 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 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.\9\ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- \8\ 15 U.S.C. Sec. 78f(b). \9\ In approving the proposed rule change, the Commission notes that it has considered the proposed rule's impact on efficiency, competition, and capital formation. 15 U.S.C. Sec. 78c(f). --------------------------------------------------------------------------- As stated in the previous section, the purpose of the proposed rule change is to amend Supplementary Paragraph .05 to the PACE Rule in order to increase the duration of the Exchange's POES order exposure window from 15 to 30 seconds. Each regional exchange has incorporated an order exposure feature similar to POES into its automatic order execution system.\10\ Initially, the Chicago Stock Exchange (``CHX'') and the Pacific Exchange (``PCX'') had adopted 30 second order exposure windows into their rules. The CHX and PCX, however, amended their rules in 1990 to reduce the duration of their order exposure windows from 30 to 15 seconds.\11\ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- \10\ BSE Rules, Ch. XXXIII, Section 3(c); CHX Rules, Art. XX, Rule 37(b)(6); and Securities Exchange Act Release No. 27727 (February 22, 1990), 55 FR 7396 (March 1, 1990) (order approving amendment of order exposure feature to PCX's P/COAST automatic execution system). See also CSE Rule 11.9(o)(2) (requires exposure of any unexecuted portion of any market or marketable limit order not fully executed pursuant to the CSE's public agency guarantee). In addition, the CSE has adopted a price improvement policy that requires preferencing dealers either to: (1) expose eligible customer orders on the Exchange for a minimum of 30 seconds in greater than minimum variation markets; or (2) immediately execute the order at an improved price. CSE Rule 11.9(u), Interpretation and Policy .01. \11\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 27727, supra note 10 (order reducing CHX and PCX order exposure time periods from 30 to 15 seconds). See also Securities Exchange Act Release No. 28667 (November 30, 1990), 55 FR 50624 (December 7, 1990) (order approving change in order exposure time from 30 to 15 seconds in CSE Rule 11.9(o)(2). --------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the order approving the CHX and PCX proposals, the Commission acknowledged that any decrease in the duration of an order exposure window would have an adverse effect on price improvement opportunities available to eligible orders, while having a positive effect on the timeliness of the execution of such orders.\12\ The Commission's analysis of the appropriateness of these proposals therefore required a balancing of their positive and negative effects. The Exchange's current proposal to increase the duration of the POES window requires that a similar analysis be undertaken; namely, balancing the proposal's potential positive effect on price improvement opportunities for customers orders against any negative effect that it may have on the timeliness of customer order execution. In this regard, based upon the Exchange's representations of its experience with POES, the system's functionalities, and the realities of competition for order flow between markets, the Commission believes that the Exchange's proposal strikes an appropriate balance in that the positive effects of increased order exposure time should offset any negative effects on the efficiency of order execution. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- \12\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 27727, supra note 9. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- With regard to opportunities for price improvement, the Commission notes that, as stated above, the Exchange has had experience with both 15 and 30 second order exposure windows. The Exchange has represented that this experience has indicated that a 15 second window often was insufficient to allow the specialist to attempt price improvement at all, while the additional time afforded by a 30 second window provided specialists with a more meaningful opportunity to do so. In light of the Exchange's experience, and absent any empirical evidence to the contrary, the Commission believes that the proposal is appropriate in that the increase in order exposure time should result in a concomitant, and beneficial, increase in the price improvement opportunities afforded by Phlx specialists to customer orders that are eligible for POES. [[Page 54149]] Moreover, the Commission believes that the proposal should have a limited impact on the timeliness of order executions on the Phlx. In this regard, the Commission notes that under the proposal a specialist will maintain the ability to execute manually an order residing on POES prior to the expiration of the POES window. Accordingly, if the specialist determines that price improvement is unlikely to occur, the specialist may execute the order at the Stop Price prior to the end of the 30 second period. In addition, the effect of the proposal on the overall timeliness of Phlx executions is further limited by the fact that the POES window only is applicable to certain market orders and then only in \1/8\ point markets or greater. Finally, the Commission believes that the competition between Phlx specialists and other markets for order flow should provide a continuing incentive for specialists to execute customer orders promptly, thereby serving to further alleviate any potential adverse impact that the proposal may have on the provision of timely executions of customer orders. IV. Conclusion It is therefore ordered, pursuant to Section 19(b)(2) of the Act,\13\ that the proposed rule change (SR-Phlx-97-32) is approved. \13\ 15 U.S.C. Sec. 78s(b)(2). --------------------------------------------------------------------------- For the Commission, by the Division of Market Regulation, pursuant to delegated authority.\14\ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- \14\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(12). --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Margaret H. McFarland, Deputy Secretary. [FR Doc. 97-27544 Filed 10-16-97; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 8010-01-M