Investors Exchange Registration-OATS Impacts

Pending SEC approval, Investors' Exchange LLC will be operating as the stock exchange, Investors Exchange. IEX has announced that it plans to transition from an ATS to an Exchange on a security-by-security phase-in approach over a period of two weeks. The current version of the phase-in schedule may be viewed at http://iextrading.com/#timeline.

FINRA recognizes a phase-in approach raises programming challenges with respect to members' OATS reporting obligations. FINRA therefore will not require a phase-in approach with respect to OATS reporting. During the transition period, firms may choose either of the following options when submitting OATS Route and Combined Order/Route Reports for orders sent to the Investors Exchange:

  • Continue to identify orders routed to IEX as orders routed to a Member by populating the Destination Code field with an "M" on OATS Route and Combined Order/Route Reports until the last security has been transitioned.
  • Follow the transition schedule and populate OATS Route and Combined Order/Route Reports with: the Destination Code field of "XV"i, the Exchange Participant ID with a value equal to the firm's IEX assigned identifier, and, if the firm cannot guarantee that the Routed Order ID sent to IEX is unique, the Connection ID.

Please note: Firms may not use the Destination Code of "XV" to reflect a route of a non-transitioned security.

Once the last security has been transitioned, all OATS Reports representing orders routed to the IEX Exchange must be coded with a Destination Code of "XV", an Exchange Participant ID with a value equal to the firm's IEX assigned identifier, and the Connection ID, if the firm cannot guarantee that the Routed Order ID sent to IEX is unique.

FINRA staff reminds firms that all Route and Combined Order/Route Reports representing orders routed to IEX during the transition period are subject to OATS matching. The OATS application will ensure the appropriate matching occurs based on the symbol's transition schedule during the phase-in period.

Please contact the OATS Helpdesk at 1-800-321-6273 with questions regarding this notice or on OATS in general.

 

i. The Destination Code of "XV" has been repurposed to represent the Investors Exchange.