Delay in Effective Date of Rule Change Clarifying Certain Restrictions Following a Trading Pause or Regulatory Halt

FINRA filed a proposal with the SEC to extend the effective date of a change to FINRA Rule 6121.01. The FINRA Rule change clarifies the operation of the Regulation NMS Plan to Address Extraordinary Volatility following a trading pause or regulatory halt in an NMS security. The new effective date will be October 24, 2016 (delayed from August 22, 2016), which is intended to permit firms sufficient time to make needed operational changes.

The rule change addresses the brief time between the resumption of trading following a trading pause or regulatory halt and when the new price bands (that trades are permitted to take place within) are received from the securities information processor (the "Processor"). The rule change requires FINRA members to take measures to ensure that the price bands are in place when trading, either by: (i) waiting for the receipt of the new price bands from the Processor, or (ii) calculating an interim upper price band and lower price band and ensuring that trades occur within those bands.