Technical Notice

OATS Guidance on the June 30, 2015 Leap Second

June 11, 2015

On June 30, 2015, a leap second will be added after 19:59:59 ET; 23:59:59 GMT. A leap second is an extra second which is added to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)/Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), in order to synchronize atomic clocks with astronomical time to keep clocks as accurate as possible. This means that on the evening of June 30, 2015, clocks will advance in the following manner:

  • 19:59:59 ET; 23:59:59 GMT
  • 19:59:60 ET; 23:59:60 GMT
  • 20:00:00 ET; 00:00:00 GMT

OATS will NOT accept records with a timestamp of 19:59:60 ET. Firms must ensure that the timestamps reported to OATS are rounded up or down consistently across all the involved parties.

If a firm receives a rejection for an order reported with a timestamp equal to 19:59:60, the rejection may be repaired by rounding the timestamp up or down by one second and resubmitted. If the rejected record is an OATS Execution or Combined Order/Execution Report that is required to link to a TRF trade report, then firms must ensure that the timestamps reported to both OATS and the TRFs are rounded up or down consistently.

For more information on leap second, please visit the following: http://www.nist.gov/pml/div688/leapseconds.cfm

For more information related to specific market centers and trade reporting facilities please see the resources below:

Venue Guidance

FINRA/NYSE TRF

Standard Market Closing Time :
20:00 ET; 00:00 GMT

June 30, 2015 Adjusted Market Closing Time :
19:30 ET; 23:30 GMT

For more information, please visit the following:
https://www.nyse.com/trader-update/history?page=5

FINRA/Nasdaq TRF

Standard Market Closing Time :
20:00 ET; 00:00 GMT

June 30, 2015 Adjusted Market Closing Time :
End of Trade Entry: 19:30 ET
End of Trade Action: 19:50 ET
System Unavailable: 19:55 ET

For more information, please visit the following:
https://www.nasdaqtrader.com/TraderNews.aspx?id=ETU2015-7

OTC Reporting Facility (ORF)

Standard Market Closing Time :
20:00 ET; 00:00 GMT

June 30, 2015 Trade Processing Ends :
19:30 ET; 23:30 GMT

For more information, please visit the following:
https://www.finra.org/industry/orf/finra-facilities---june-30-2015-leap-second

EDGA and EDGX Exchanges:

Standard Extended Session Closing Time:
20:00:00 ET (00:00:00 GMT)

June 30, 2015 Adjusted Extended Session Closing Time:
19:30:00 ET (23:30:00 GMT)

For more information, please visit the following:
http://cdn.batstrading.com/resources/schedule_update/2015/BATS-EDGA-Exchange-and-EDGX-Exchange-Leap-Second-Update-Early-Extended-Session-Close-on-June-30-2015.pdf

BATS BYX and BATS BZX Exchanges:

Trading schedules are not affected.

For more information, please visit the following:
http://cdn.batstrading.com/resources/schedule_update/2015/BATS-EDGA-Exchange-and-EDGX-Exchange-Leap-Second-Update-Early-Extended-Session-Close-on-June-30-2015.pdf

NYSE Arca Exchange

Standard Market Closing Time :
20:00:00 ET (00:00:00 GMT)

June 30, 2015 Adjusted Market Closing Time:
19:30:00 ET (23:30:00 GMT)

For more information, please visit the following:
https://www.nyse.com/trader-update/history?page=5

The NASDAQ Stock Market

Standard Market Closing Time:
20:00:00 ET (00:00:00 GMT)

June 30, 2015 Adjusted Market Closing Time:
19:30:00 ET (23:30:00 GMT)

For more information, please visit the following:
http://www.nasdaqtrader.com/TraderNews.aspx?id=ETA2015-68

Please contact the OATS Helpdesk at (800) 321-6273 with any questions.