Boston Options Exchange Eliminates Make Or Take Pricing

The Boston Options Exchange ("BOX") will eliminate Make or Take pricing on all Penny Pilot Classes effective September 1, pending regulatory approval. BOX had recently eliminated Make or Take fees for SPY, QQQQ and IWM on July 2. With this change, trade executions for public customers will not be subject to a trading fee on any of the current 57 classes which are part of the Penny Pilot Program, while all other account types will be subject to a fee of 20 cents per contract. The changes do not affect the fee structure of the Non-Penny Classes where all accounts that remove liquidity receive a credit.

“Make or Take pricing was an experiment which failed to raise BOX’s market share,” said William Easley, Vice Chairman of BOX. “We often found ourselves as last choice on inter-market linkage routers even when we matched NBBO."