[ by Howard Haykin ]

The Options Price Reporting Authority (“OPRA”) proposes to amend the Plan for Reporting of Consolidated Options Last Sale Reports and Quotation Information (“OPRA Plan”), by revising a provision that describes certain circumstances in which a national securities exchange must cease to be a Member of OPRA. The SEC is publishing this notice to solicit comments from interested persons. 

Description and Purpose of the Plan Amendment.   The purpose of this amendment is to revise language in Section 3.5 of the OPRA Plan that currently states that:  “The membership status [in OPRA] of a Member shall terminate effective as of … the last day of the calendar quarter in which the Member has ceased maintaining a market for the trading of securities option contracts.”

Under this language, a Member that ceases to maintain a market for the trading of securities option contracts late in a calendar quarter would have little or no time in which to resume maintaining such a market if it wants to remain a Member of OPRA.

OPRA is proposing to amend Section 3.5 so that a national securities exchange that ceases to maintain a market for the trading of options may remain a Member of OPRA for an additional calendar quarter. The amendment would provide an exchange that ceases to maintain a market for the trading of options but wants to remain a Member of OPRA with additional flexibility with respect to the date by which it must resume maintaining a market for the trading of options.

For further details, go to:   [NMS Rule Filing OPRA 12-7, 1/15/13].