SEC Slaps Traders With One-Millionth-Cent CAT Fee
Published Date: 5/18/2026
Notice
Summary
Starting May 1, 2026, Nasdaq MRX is charging industry members a tiny fee of $0.000001 per share to help cover the costs of the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) system. This fee will run through the end of December 2026, with the first bills arriving in June based on May trades. If you’re a broker or exchange member, get ready to chip in for this important market tracking tool!
Free Policy Watch
New rules are filed every week. Most people never see them.
Pick a topic. PRIA watches every federal rule and tells you when one hits your household.
Pick a topic to get started
Analyzed Economic Effects
4 provisions identified: 0 benefits, 4 costs, 0 mixed.
Per-Share CAT Fee for Industry Members
If you are a broker-dealer or other Industry Member, Nasdaq MRX will charge $0.000001 per executed equivalent share as a CAT Fee (called CAT Fee 2026-1) for the period May 1, 2026 through December 31, 2026. The first monthly invoices will be sent in June 2026 and will be calculated based on trades executed in May 2026.
Budget Amount and Cost Allocation
The budgeted CAT costs for May–December 2026 are $15,149,648. CEBBs collectively are allocated one-third of that amount ($5,049,882.67) and CEBSs collectively are allocated one-third of that amount ($5,049,882.67); the CAT Funding Model anticipates Participants will cover the remaining one-third of the budgeted costs. The fee period is intended to recover approximately two-thirds of the reasonably budgeted CAT costs for 2026.
How Shares Are Counted for Fees
The fee is applied to "executed equivalent shares": each executed share in an NMS Stock counts as 1 executed equivalent share; each executed Listed Option contract is counted using its multiplier (for example, 100 executed equivalent shares per standard option contract); and each executed share in an OTC Equity Security counts as 0.01 executed equivalent share. The Fee Rate before dividing by three was $0.000003799483243631228, which is divided by three and rounded to produce the $0.000001 per executed equivalent share assessed to CEBBs and CEBSs.
Customers Could See Fee Pass-Through
If you trade through a broker or exchange member, the SEC recognized that Industry Members may pass-through CAT fees for customer executed volume, so you could see these fees reflected in trading costs. This pass-through is a possibility identified in the approval materials, not an automatic mandate.
Your PRIA Score
Personalized for You
How does this regulation affect your finances?
Sign up for a PRIA Policy Scan to see your personalized alignment score for this federal register document and every other regulation we track. We analyze your financial profile against policy provisions to show you exactly what matters to your wallet.
Key Dates
Department and Agencies
Take It Personal
Get Your Personalized Policy View
Take the PRIA Score to see how policy affects your household, then upgrade to PRIA Full Coverage for year-round monitoring.
Already have an account? Sign in