BATS Preps 2016 Equity Depth Data Fees

In a notification sent to customers, BATS announced that effective Jan. 4, it will raise its fees for “the receipt and distribution of BATS equity depth data feeds,” pending filing with the US Securities Exchange Commission.

BATS first announced new fees for market data from its US equities exchanges in July 2013, reversing its previous stance on data fees of providing core market data to end-user firms free of charge. At that time, the exchange introduced monthly access fees for internal data usage of $1,000 and $500 for its BZX and BYX market depth feeds, respectively. Now, BATS is raising monthly fees for internal distribution of depth data from its BZX market from $1,000 to $1,500 per firm and from its BYX market from $500 to $1,000. 

A new internal distribution fee of $1,500 per firm per month will also apply for depth of book data from BATS’ EDGX market and $1,000 for data from BATS’ EDGA, which were acquired in BATS’ 2014 takeover of US stock exchange Direct Edge. The fees are likely to impact any trading firm distributing the data within their organizations.

Meanwhile, BATS is introducing a new monthly non-display fee of $5,000 per firm for use of BZX depth-of-book data by registered ATSs, ECNs and exchange trading platforms, and $2,000 per firm for BYX data. For its EDGX and EDGA markets, BATS will introduce monthly non-display fees of $5,000 per firm and $2,000 per firm, respectively.

According to the notification, these venues are likely to use the BATS data for price formation and order routing to ensure best execution for clients. 

A BATS Global Markets spokesperson declines to comment on “commercial matters.” BATS is understood to be in a quiet period while preparing an IPO filing. The exchange, which is estimated to be valued at over $2 billion, is expected to file for an IPO later this month and go public next year.

A market data manager at a US market maker says unlike other US stock exchanges, whose non-display policies typically target user firms and cover “anything that doesn’t involve being on a screen,” BATS’ non-display fees are targeted at competitor trading platforms. However, the spokesperson notes that BATS' market share of US equities trading in November was more than 21 percent­—double that of when it first introduced data fees in 2013, making its data more valuable now.

For example, Nasdaq introduced a non-display fee for other trading platforms in January of $5,000 per month per trading platform, with a cap of $15,000 for a maximum of three trading platforms. However, the exchange also levies tiered direct access fees of $300 per subscriber per month for up to 10 subscribers, up to maximum of $75,000 per month for 250 or more subscribers.

“As far as I can tell, BATS’ non-display fees are for any platform like NYSE or Nasdaq that takes their data and uses it on a competing platform [to support order routing]. We are pleased that the fee does not target consumer firms and is not detrimental to the market,” the market data manager adds.