NYSE Options
Broadcast Order Liquidity Delivery (“BOLD”) Mechanism
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is BOLD?
BOLD is a new NYSE Amex Options mechanism that provides ATP Holders the opportunity to
source additional liquidity for marketable orders prior to routing, cancelling or posting on the
Consolidated Book.
2. How does BOLD function?
Upon receipt of an eligible BOLD-designated order, a Request for Quote (“RFQ”) message will be
broadcast over the NYSE Amex Options’ XDP Feed to notify participants of available interest at the
NBBO. The BOLD Timer will initiate, giving Exchange Participants a brief period of time to submit
orders or quotes to interact with the BOLD-designated order prior to the order routing, cancelling, or
posting on the Consolidated Book. Orders received on the opposite side of the BOLD-designated
order will be executed as they are received. If the BOLD Timer expires without any response or the
BOLD-designated order is not satisfied to its full size, the BOLD-designated order or any remaining
interest will be processed in accordance with the order specifications.
3. How do I BOLD-designate an order?
Participants must include a BOLD indicator in the ‘Extended Execution Instruction’ field of the FIX
and UGW Binary single-leg order messages in order to designate an order to apply BOLD
functionality. The newly created BOLD values for the ‘Extended Execution Instruction’ field are:
‘W’
‘X’
‘Y’
‘Z’
BOLD order info only;
BOLD order info and Capacity Only;
BOLD order info and Participant ID Only;
BOLD order Info, Capacity and Participant ID.
4. Where are BOLD RFQs broadcast and what is included in an RFQ?
The BOLD RFQ message will be published over the XDP Feed informing market participants of
available interest. The message will include the series, side (buy/sell), quantity and BOLD price.
Additionally, participants submitting the BOLD-designated order can choose to include Capacity
and/or Participant ID attribution information.
5. How can I respond to an RFQ? Can BOLD-designated orders and responses be sent over FIX
and UGW?
The BOLD Mechanism is not an auction and therefore does not have a specified response type. By
submitting quotes over MMD and orders via FIX or UGW on the contra side of the market,
participants will be able to interact with BOLD-designated orders.
6. If multiple BOLD orders exist for an option series at a price level, how are inbound orders
allocated against BOLD-designated orders?
The NYSE Amex Options’ customer priority, pro-rata allocation algorithm will be utilized for BOLDdesignated orders. Additionally, multiple BOLD-designated orders can be broadcast at a given time
in the same series and each will have its own timer. RFQs will not include a cumulative quantity of
size or orders.
7. Will I be able to differentiate BOLD executions from non-BOLD executions?
Yes. New ‘Liquidity Indicators’ will be utilized to indicate whether participant executions take place
against a BOLD-designated order. The new liquidity values can be found in the corresponding
system specifications and will be included in the ‘Liquidity Indicator” field of order and quote
execution messages as well as on the NYSE Amex/Arca Options Online/Batch Extract. The new
liquidity codes are:
‘F’ BOLD Removing - For orders that initiate the BOLD Mechanism;
‘P’ BOLD Adding - For contra orders that execute against a BOLD-designated order.
8. Is BOLD participation required?
No. Exchange Participants must opt-in to the BOLD Mechanism on an order-by-order basis.
Orders with the BOLD-designation may be cancelled or replaced at any time in the order’s lifecycle.
9. Which order types are eligible for BOLD?
The following order types and TIFs are eligible for processing through the BOLD Mechanism:
Market, Limit, Day, GTC, Stop and Stop Limit, PNP, PNP-B and IOC.
10. Will other order types sent with BOLD instructions be accepted by the Exchange?
No. Order types other than those noted above are ineligible for the BOLD Mechanism and will be
rejected if they are sent in with a BOLD designation. The reject message will indicate the reject
description as “<Order Type> Cannot BOLD”.
11. How will BOLD-designated orders interact with CUBE and QCC orders?
The Exchange’s CUBE Auction will conclude early if the BOLD Mechanism receives an unrelated
order in the same series during the CUBE Auction’s Response Time Interval. CUBE and QCC
Orders will be rejected if such orders are received during a BOLD Period.
12. How long is the BOLD timer?
The BOLD Timer will last 50 milliseconds then continue to process orders in accordance with the
corresponding order type. The duration of the BOLD Timer may change and such changes will be
announced via a Trader Update.
13. Is BOLD order functionality available all day?
BOLD functionality is available during the Exchange’s core trading hours as long as the BOLD
Timer can run in its entirety. Any eligible BOLD-designated orders submitted to the Exchange when
the BOLD functionality is not available, as well as during pre-open and after-markets hours, will be
accepted but not forwarded to the BOLD Mechanism for processing.
14. What happens if there is a trading halt or system disruption while a BOLD order is
processing?
In the event of a Trading Halt or a System Disruption the BOLD Timer will terminate and order
processing will continue as normal.
15. Will pricing be different for orders executed within the BOLD mechanism relative to other
executions?
Yes. Additional details regarding fees and rebates applied to BOLD-designated orders can be found
in the NYSE Amex Options Fee Schedule.
16. Are clients required to make changes on their end to participate in BOLD?
Yes. Relevant system documents have been updated with the requirements for utilizing BOLD
functionality. Additionally, clients wishing to receive BOLD broadcast messages will need to
program to read the new messages over XDP. Responding to a BOLD-designated order requires
no specific change to order messages. Additional details can be found in the following
documentation:
XDP Options Client Specification
NYSE Arca FIX Gateway Specification
UGW Binary Gateway Specification
Market Maker Direct Specification for Options
NYSE AMEX Options / NYSE ARCA Options GEMS Batch / Online Extract Layout
17. Has BOLD been approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”)?
NYSE Amex Options has submitted the required rule filing with the SEC and is currently awaiting its
publication.
18. When is BOLD scheduled to be implemented?
BOLD functionality is currently available for testing in the NYSE Amex Options Enhanced
Certification Environment. Clients are highly encouraged to test the new functionality in preparation
of its roll out to the Production environment. The specific implementation date will be provided via
Trader Update.
19. Who should I contact if I have additional questions regarding BOLD?
For assistance with the Enhanced Certification Testing environment, please contact
[email protected]. For any additional questions regarding the NYSE Amex Options BOLD
Mechanism, please contact your NYSE Relationship Manager at [email protected].
BOLD-Designated Order Examples
SCENARIO:
AWAY MARKET IS BETTER, BOLD RFQ IS BROADCAST, AND SINGLE RESPONSE RECEIVED,
ROUTES, AND SWEEPS CONSOLIDATED BOOK.
DESCRIPTION
MARKET/EVENT
RESULTS
NBBO
PHLX (100) 1.23 x 1.25 (10) CBOE
AMEX BBO
(10) 1.15 x 1.28 (10)
1
Cust1 submits BOLDdesignated order
Buy (50) @ 1.28
Cannot execute on AMEX due to
better away interest
2
BOLD RFQ is
broadcast on XDP
Buy (50) @ 1.25
50 millisecond BOLD Timer
initiated
3
Cust2 Opposite Side
Order Submitted
Sell (10) @ 1.25
Cust2 trades (10) contracts @
1.25 with Cust1 BOLD-designated
order. Cust1 has (40) contracts
remaining in BOLD
4
BOLD Timer expires
5
New NBBO
PHLX (100) 1.23 x 1.28 (10) AMEX
6
New NBB
AMEX (20) 1.28
Exchange routes (10) contracts to
CBOE @ 1.25
Customer price/time sweep logic
is applied. Cust1 sweeps (10)
contracts @ 1.28 posted on
AMEX Consolidated book. Cust1
has a balance of (20) contracts
which post to the Consolidated
book.
SCENARIO:
OPPOSITE SIDE NBBO FADES AFTER BOLD TIMER STARTS AND THE BOLD ORDER BECOMES
EXECUTABLE ON AMEX.
DESCRIPTION
MARKET/EVENT
RESULTS
NBBO
PHLX (100) 1.23 x 1.25 (10) CBOE
AMEX BBO
(10) 1.15 x 1.28 (10)
1
Cust1 submits BOLDdesignated Order
Buy (50) @ 1.28
Cannot execute on AMEX due to
better away interest
2
BOLD RFQ1 is
broadcast on XDP
Buy (50) @ 1.25
50 millisecond BOLD Timer
initiated
3
Cust2 submits BOLDdesignated Order
Buy (50) @ 1.30
Cannot execute on AMEX due to
better away interest
4
BOLD RFQ2 is
broadcast on XDP
Buy (50) @ 1.25
50 millisecond BOLD Timer
initiated
5
CBOE Offer changes
(100) 1.31
6
New NBBO
7
BOLD Timers end due
to faded NBBO
8
New NBB
PHLX (100) 1.23 x 1.28 (10) AMEX
Customer price/time sweep logic
is applied. Cust2 sweeps (10)
contracts @ 1.28 posted on
AMEX Consolidated book. Cust2
has a balance of (40) contracts to
Buy @ 1.30. The order for Cust1
posts on the Consolidated book.
AMEX (40) 1.30
SCENARIO:
OPPOSITE SIDE NBBO FADES AFTER BOLD TIMER STARTS AND THE BOLD ORDER BECOMES
EXECUTABLE ON AMEX.
DESCRIPTION
MARKET/EVENT
RESULTS
NBBO
PHLX (100) 1.23 x 1.25 (10) CBOE
AMEX BBO
(10) 1.15 x 1.28 (10)
1
Cust1 submits BOLDdesignated order
Buy 50 @ 1.28
Cannot execute on AMEX due to
better away interest
2
BOLD RFQ is
broadcast on XDP
Buy 50 @ 1.25
50 millisecond BOLD Timer
initiated
3
Cust2 submits BOLDdesignated order
Buy 50 @ 1.30
Cannot execute on AMEX due to
better away interest
4
BOLD RFQ2 is
broadcast on XDP
Buy 50 @ 1.25
50 millisecond BOLD Timer
initiated
5
Cust3 submits BOLDdesignated order
Buy 50 @ 1.30
Cannot execute on AMEX due to
better away interest
6
BOLD RFQ3 is
broadcast on XDP
Buy 50 @ 1.25
50 millisecond BOLD Timer
initiated
7
Cust4 Opposite Side
Order Submitted
Sell 10 @ 1.20
Cust4 trades (10) contracts @
1.25 with Cust1 BOLD-designated
order. Cust1 has (40) contracts
remaining in BOLD
8
Cust1 BOLD Timer
Expires
9
All BOLD Timers end
due to faded NBBO
10
Cust 1, 2 and 3 post on
the Consolidated book
11
New NBB
Exchange routes 10 contracts to
CBOE @ 1.25. Cust1 has (30)
contracts remaining to Buy
New NBBO:
PHLX (100) 1.23 x 1.28 (10) AMEX
Customer price/time sweep logic
is applied. Cust2 sweeps (10)
contracts @ 1.28 posted on
AMEX Consolidated book. Cust2
has (40) contracts remaining Buy
Cust2 and 3 aggregated are the
new NBB
AMEX (90) 1.30 x