NYSE Lowers U.S. Options Pricing

Beginning July 1, 2009, and pending a filing with the SEC, NYSE Arca options and NYSE Amex options will no longer be charging a facilitation fee to firms who facilitate their customer order flow.

The Firm Facilitation Fee applies to any transaction involving the firm’s proprietary trading account, which has a customer of that same firm on the contra side of the transaction.

Both exchanges will also be lowering the Broker Dealer/Firm Manual Fee from $0.26 to $0.25 and the fee for electronic broker dealer/firm orders at NYSE Amex will be reduced from $0.50 to $0.15.

In a statement, Ed Boyle, Senior Vice President or U.S. Options at NYSE Euronext, said, “We are proud to offer our customers one of the most competitively priced fee schedules in the industry. As a result of recent technology enhancements made to our trading infrastructure, our industry-leading speed and functionality are further strengthened by our commitment to providing exceptional market quality and some of the lowest transaction fees in the industry. We look forward to continuing to provide the functionality, transparency and cost efficiency that our customers expect.”