[ by Howard Haykin ] The NYSE and NYSE MKT will officially launch its controversial "Retail Liquidity Program" on Wednesday, 8/1/12.  According to the Exchange, the program - which market making firms argue will unfairly take trading volume away from them - provides an additional opportunity for price improvement to retail orders within an exchange environment, and enables greater transparency, liquidity and competition for individual investor orders. Any NYSE or NYSE MKT member can enter an order to offer price improvement for retail customers, as long as they are willing to improve the Protected Best Bid or Offer (PBBO) by at least $0.001. Customers are reminded that the NYSE user acceptance testing facility currently is available to support testing of the new Retail Liquidity Program’s order types.  Customers wishing to take advantage of this service should contact:  firmtesting@nyx.com or 888.689.7739, Option 2, for further information. For additional business questions or comments, please contact your Relationship Manager or either: Robert Airo (rairo@nyx.com;  212.656.5663), or Michael Paulyson (mpaulyson@nyx.com; 212.656.272). To access the referenced document, go to:  [NYSE Trader, 7/18/12]. For additional details on how your firm may take advantage of this new service as a Retail Member Organization or as a Retail Liquidity Provider, please refer to the following technical notice and documents:

• Technical Changes in Support of Retail Orders
• NYSE Common Customer Gateway (CCG) FIX Specification and API version 5.2
• UTP Direct API Specification Version 1.9
• RMO Application
• RMO – Broker-Dealer Agreement
• RLP Application
• New CQS Retail Interest Indicator: UPDATE
• CQS Output Spec Version 51