Nasdaq BX Mirrors Options Fee Tweaks Starting Next Year
Published Date: 7/31/2025
Notice
Summary
Starting January 2, 2026, Nasdaq BX will change how it charges its Options Regulatory Fee (ORF). Only options trades cleared in the Customer range at the Options Clearing Corporation will be charged this fee, meaning some trades won’t pay the ORF anymore. This update affects traders using Nasdaq BX and could save money for those with non-customer cleared trades.
Analyzed Economic Effects
4 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 1 costs, 2 mixed.
ORF Charged Only on BX Customer Trades
Starting January 2, 2026, BX will assess its Options Regulatory Fee (ORF) only on Customer option transactions that are executed on Nasdaq BX and cleared in the OCC Customer ("C") range. BX will not assess ORF for Customer transactions that execute on other exchanges, so some trades that previously could be charged may no longer pay BX's ORF.
Per-Contract ORF Increase to $0.0198
Effective January 2, 2026, BX will increase the ORF from $0.0008 per contract side to $0.0198 per contract side. BX also states it will seek to limit ORF Regulatory Revenue to approximately 82% of Options Regulatory Cost.
ORF Billed to Clearing Member on Execution
Under the new methodology (effective January 2, 2026), BX will assess ORF based on the clearing instruction provided on the execution trade date and will not take into account CMTA transfers or changes at OCC (except same-day BX-provided CMTA adjustments). As a result, the clearing member on record at execution will be billed for ORF even if a different party executed the trade.
Change Is Temporary — Sunsets Feb 1, 2026
The proposed ORF methodology and the $0.0198 per contract side rate will sunset on February 1, 2026, after which BX would revert to the prior ORF methodology and $0.0008 per contract side rate unless it decides otherwise. BX says it will reconsider the sunset date in 2026 before deciding whether to proceed.
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