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Tick Size Pilot Data Collection Securities Files

On March 29, 2019, the data collection requirements under the National Market System (NMS) Plan to implement a Tick Size Pilot Program (Tick Size Pilot) will come to an end. As a result, the Pilot Securities File and Change File will no longer be produced on a daily basis. At the conclusion of the pilot, a blank Tick Size Pilot Securities file will be produced, and the Change File will be updated to show the deletion of securities from the Tick Size Pilot list.

The Tick Size Pilot consists of a defined set of securities, broken into four groups: 

  • The control group will be quoted and trade at their current tick size increment.
  • The first test group will be quoted in $0.05 increments, but will continue to trade at their current price increment.
  • The second test group will be quoted and trade in $0.05 minimum increments, but would allow certain exemptions for midpoint executions, retail investor executions, and negotiated trades.
  • The third test group will adhere to the requirements of the second test group, but will also be subject to a "trade-at" requirement. There will also be an exemption for block size orders.

FINRA produces a Pilot Securities Daily List each day, identifying the securities included in the Tick Size Pilot, and the pilot group for each security. Additionally, FINRA produces a Pilot Securities Change List, identifying any changes made to the securities included in the pilot. Changes may include name changes, symbol changes, movements from one pilot group to another, or removal from the Tick Size Pilot. No new securities will be added to the list during the pilot period. 

FINRA and the other Participants have determined that it is appropriate to collect data for a group of securities that is larger, and using different quantitative thresholds, than the group of securities that will be Pilot Securities. FINRA Rule 6191 and BATS Rule 11.27 defines "Pre-Pilot Data Collection Securities" as the securities designated by the Participants for purposes of the data collection requirements described in Items I, II and IV of Appendix B and Item I of Appendix C to the Plan for the period beginning six months prior to the Pilot Period and ending on the trading day immediately preceding the Pilot Period. During the Pre-Pilot Data Collection period, FINRA published a Pre-Pilot Data Collection Securities Daily List file and Pre-Pilot Data Collection Securities Change List file. On September 3, 2016, FINRA ceased publishing the Pre-Pilot Data Collection List files and began publishing the Pilot Securities files. Effective October 1, 2018, all securities will be placed in the Control Group for the Post-Pilot data collection period. Post-Pilot data collection will continue until March 29, 2019.

Links to Pilot Securities File and Change File 

The Pilot Securities files are pipe-delimited .txt files. Each field contains up to the maximum characters allowed, but is not space-filled if the text is fewer than the maximum number of characters. If a field is not applicable/not provided, only the delimiter is provided for that field.

The Pilot Change List produced each day contains a cumulative list of changes to the Pilot securities since the inception of the Pilot. Each file contains a footer providing the number of records contained in the file and the date the file was generated. The files are posted on finra.org no later than 2 a.m. ET each day, barring any delays in the source data.

Files are available for download via HTTP. No user ID or password is required to access the files. Firms may automate the daily download of these files.

The daily Tick Size Pilot Securities file includes symbols provided by the exchanges to facilitate testing. Those test symbols are also available in the following file:  http://www.finra.org/sites/default/files/TSPTestSymbols.txt

The Pilot Securities Daily List file is defined as follows:

Please note: as of 9/21/16 changes have been made to the file formats. 

Field Name Maximum data length Definition
Ticker_Symbol 14 characters The unique symbol for the security. The format will be the same as published by the primary listing market.
Security_Name 250 characters The name of the issue.
Listing_Exchange 1 character The code representing the primary listing market of the security; possible values are:

V - Investors Exchange LLC (IEX)
Q - NASDAQ
N - NYSE
A - NYSE MKT
Effective_Date 8 characters The date the security was first included in a particular test group, in the pilot list, or with the current exchange, or the effective date of the change. Format: yyyymmdd
Tick_Size_Pilot_Program_Group 2 characters C - Control Group
G1 - First Test Group
G2 - Second Test Group
G3 - Third Test Group

The Pilot Securities Change List is defined as follows:

Field Name Maximum data length Definition
Posting_Date 8 characters The date the record was first included in the change list on finra.org; i.e., the effective date of the change. Format: yyyymmdd
Ticker_Symbol 14 characters The unique symbol for the security. The format will be the same as published by the primary listing market.
Security_Name 250 characters The name of the issue.
Listing_Exchange 1 character The code representing the primary listing market of the security
Effective_Date 8 characters The date the security was first included in a particular test group, in the pilot list, or with the current exchange, or the effective date of the change. Format: yyyymmdd
Deleted_Date 8 characters The date the symbol no longer appears in the list of pilot securities, in a particular test group, or with the listed exchange. Format: yyyymmdd
Tick_Size_Pilot_ Program_Group 2 characters C - Control Group
G1 - First Test Group
G2 - Second Test Group
G3 - Third Test Group
Old_Tick_Size_ Pilot_Program_ Group 2 characters The Pilot group this security was in prior to the change.
Old_Ticker_ Symbol(s) 14 characters The symbol of this security prior to the change.
Reason_for_ Change 1 character A code identifying the reason a symbol was deleted or modified. Values will include:
A - The symbol was deleted due to a merger or acquisition.
C - The symbol was deleted due to a symbol change.
D - The symbol was deleted due to a delisting.
P - The symbol was removed from a test group and added to the control group due to a price decline below $1.
R - The symbol was rolled out from the Control Group to a Test Group, or rolled back from a Test Group to a Control Group.
S - The symbol was added due to a symbol change.
T - The symbol was transferred from another listing market.
U - The symbol was transferred to another listing market.
O - Other - Add
V - Other - Delete
Note that the values listed above represent the change reasons that the Primary Listing Markets anticipate will be used. However, upon implementation of the Pilot Security daily change lists, the Primary Listing Markets may identify additional change reasons and if necessary, will update or add codes as required.