Nasdaq Imposes Tiny Fee to Keep Audit Trail Running
Published Date: 5/14/2026
Notice
Summary
Starting May 1, 2026, Nasdaq will charge industry members a tiny fee of $0.000001 per share to help cover the costs of the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) system. This fee runs through December 31, 2026, with the first bills arriving in June based on May trades. If you’re a broker or part of the trading world, get ready to chip in for keeping the market’s audit trail sharp and up-to-date!
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Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 0 benefits, 3 costs, 0 mixed.
Per‑Share CAT Fee for Brokers
Starting May 1, 2026, Nasdaq will charge Industry Members that act as CAT Executing Brokers (CEBBs and CEBSs) a fee of $0.000001 per executed equivalent share. The fee runs through December 31, 2026, and the first invoices will be sent in June 2026 based on May 2026 transactions.
Budgeted CAT Costs and Allocation
The budgeted Consolidated Audit Trail costs for May 1 through December 31, 2026 are $15,149,648. CEBBs collectively are allocated $5,049,882.67 and CEBSs collectively are allocated $5,049,882.67, and these industry charges are expected to recover about two‑thirds of the Budgeted CAT Costs for that period.
Fee Rate Calculation and Published Rate
The Operating Committee calculated a Fee Rate of $0.000003799483243631228 per executed equivalent share for the May–December 2026 period, then divided that number by three and rounded to set the assessed CAT Fee at $0.000001 per executed equivalent share to be paid by CEBBs and CEBSs.
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