SEC Extends Compliance Deadlines for Tick-Size and Access-Fee Rules

The SEC extended by one year, to November 2027, the deadlines for complying with 2024 amendments to Regulation NMS that set a smaller minimum tick size and lower exchange access-fee caps.

In its Order granting temporary exemptive relief, the SEC explained that the 2024 amendments established a $0.005 minimum pricing increment under Rule 612 ("Minimum pricing increment") for quotes of $1.00 or more in certain stocks, and cut the access-fee cap under Rule 610(c) ("Access to quotations") to $0.001 per share for stocks priced at $1.00 or more. After adoption, exchanges and others challenged the rules in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which denied the petition for review in October 2025. The SEC had already partially stayed the rules during that review and then set new compliance dates of November 2026.

The extension followed an application by the exchange MEMX to delay the access-fee changes and the SEC’s broader request for comment. Trading firms and exchanges, including SIFMA, Nasdaq, and the NYSE, said the changes would require extensive systems work that overlapped with other 2026 initiatives such as the launch of around-the-clock weekday trading and new order-execution reporting under Rule 605 ("Disclosure of order execution information"). The SEC said the delay would allow an orderly transition.

The new deadlines fall on the first business day of November 2027 for the tick-size and access-fee amendments.