Domestic Securities, Inc. v. Securities & Exchange Commission

333 F.3d 239, 357 U.S. App. D.C. 118, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 13277
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedJuly 1, 2003
DocketNo. 02-1308
StatusPublished
Cited by46 cases

This text of 333 F.3d 239 (Domestic Securities, Inc. v. Securities & Exchange Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Domestic Securities, Inc. v. Securities & Exchange Commission, 333 F.3d 239, 357 U.S. App. D.C. 118, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 13277 (D.C. Cir. 2003).

Opinion

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge SENTELLE.

SENTELLE, Circuit Judge:

Under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, 15 U.S.C. § 78a et seq. (2000), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) must approve any changes to the rales of the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. (NASD), the private organization responsible for self-regulation of the over-the-counter (OTC) securities market. In 2002, the SEC issued an order approving a NASD proposal to implement a new computerized quotation and trade execution system, known as SuperMontage, for the Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. (Nasdaq). In its petition for review, Domestic Securities, Inc. (Domestic), an Electronic Communications Network, challenges a feature of the trade execution rales governing SuperMontage, arguing that it discriminates against ECNs and harms competition. Domestic also challenges the SEC’s approval of an Alternative Display Facility, which was designed to provide a quotation display mechanism for traders who do not wish to use SuperMontage. We hold that we lack jurisdiction over Domestic’s challenge to SuperMontage’s trade execution rules because the rales were approved in an earlier SEC order, and Domestic failed to seek timely review of that order. We deny Domestic’s petition for review of the ADF approval order because the SEC’s order was supported by substantial evidence and was not arbitrary or capricious.

[121]*121I. Background

A. Statutory and Factual Background

In 1975, Congress enacted amendments to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, directing the SEC to “facilitate the establishment of a national market system.” 15 U.S.C. § 78k-l(a)(2). Specifically, Congress charged the SEC “to use modern communication and data processing equipment to link all securities markets nationwide.” Bradford Nat’l Clearing Corp. v. SEC, 590 F.2d 1085, 1094 (D.C.Cir.1978); see also 15 U.S.C. § 78k-l(a)(l)(D). In centralizing the market for securities, Congress sought, inter alia, to promote “economically efficient execution of securities transactions” while maintaining “fair competition” between securities brokers and dealers. Id. § 78k-l(a)(l)(C)(i)-(ii).

NASD has played an important role in the establishment of the national securities market. NASD is the only “national securities association” registered with the SEC pursuant to 15 U.S.C. § 78o-3. As a registered national securities association, NASD must maintain rules that, inter alia, “remove impediments to ... a free and open market and a national market system, and ... protect investors and the public interest,” while permitting neither “unfair discrimination between customers, issuers, brokers, or dealers,” id. § 78o-3(b)(6), nor the imposition of “any burden upon competition not necessary or appropriate in furtherance of the purposes” of the Act, id. § 78o-3(b)(9). See Timpinaro v. SEC, 2 F.3d 453, 456 (D.C.Cir.1993). In addition, NASD is a selfregulatory organization (SRO) responsible for regulation of the OTC securities market, 15 U.S.C. § 78s. As an SRO, NASD must file with the Commission any proposed change to its mies. Id: § 78s(b)(1); NASD, Inc. v. SEC, 801 F.2d 1415, 1416 (D.C.Cir.1986). After notice and comment, the Commission may approve the rule change if it finds that the change is consistent with the Act and regulations governing the SRO. 15 U.S.C. § 78s(b)(2)(B).

Since 1971, NASD has operated an electronic automated quotation system-the NASD Automated Quotation system, or “Nasdaq” that affords dealers the means to display and instantaneously update their “bid” and “ask” quotations for securities, for which they are registered with NASD as market makers. By 1984, the Nasdaq system had evolved from providing only price quotations to providing automatic execution of some trades.

Also in the mid-1980s, Instinet developed the first Electronic Communications Network (ECN or Network), which provided a private trade execution network for its subscribers. Subscribers, usually dealers or institutional investors, could post “limit orders”-orders to buy or sell a specific number of shares of a security at a specific price; the Instinet computer system matched those orders with the orders of other subscribers and automatically executed the trades via computer. Oftentimes, Instinet could provide a better price than Nasdaq in a given security because market makers were not required to post on Nasdaq customer limit orders that were priced better than the market makers’ own best bid or offer quotations for the same securities. Thus, market makers could display one set of prices for retail customers on Nasdaq while offering more favorable prices through Instinet.

To address this discrepancy, in 1996 the SEC adopted the “order handling rules” (OHR or the Rules), which require a market maker, or an ECN on its behalf, to publish in the national market the market maker’s best-priced customer limit orders and to provide trading access to those orders. See 61 Fed.Reg. 48,290 (Sept. 12, 1996). The Rules brought market makers’ best-priced limit orders into the national [122]*122market system and put ECNs in direct competition with market makers for the business of customer limit orders. Id. at 48,307. It also gave non-ECN subscribers access to the best-priced limit orders displayed on an ECN. Previously, the ECN had charged each side of a trade executed on its system-both of whom were subscribers-an execution fee. Recognizing this, the SEC allowed the network to continue to impose charges for access to its system, so long as the fee was “not structured to discourage access by non-subscriber broker-dealers.” Id. at 48,314 n. 272.

After the adoption of the OHR, several companies began operating ECNs, including the petitioner, Domestic. In 1998, the Commission adopted Regulation ATS, which, inter alia, required each network to display all of its limit orders in the national market system and provide trading access to those orders. 63 Fed.Reg. 70,844, 70,-865-73 (Dec. 22, 1998). Regulation ATS also expressed the Commission’s view that exchanges, such as Nasdaq, could be operated as for-profit corporations. Id. at 70,-849, 70,882-84. Nasdaq opted to become a for-profit entity. Although NASD remains the parent corporation' of Nasdaq, the SEC has promulgated regulations designed to ensure that NASD does not use its regulatory authority to promote its pecuniary interest in Nasdaq.

By the late 1990s, Nasdaq had become a virtual trading floor for the national OTC securities market, offering sophisticated computerized trade execution capabilities. ECNs’ limit orders were displayed alongside the quotations and limit orders of Nasdaq market makers.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Alliance for Fair Board Recruitment v. SEC
125 F.4th 159 (Fifth Circuit, 2024)
Citadel Securities LLC v. SEC
45 F.4th 27 (D.C. Circuit, 2022)
New York Stock Exchange LLC v. SEC
2 F.4th 989 (D.C. Circuit, 2021)
Friends of Animals v. Ashe
174 F. Supp. 3d 20 (District of Columbia, 2016)
Koch v. Securities & Exchange Commission
793 F.3d 147 (D.C. Circuit, 2015)
Safari Club International v. Jewell
76 F. Supp. 3d 198 (District of Columbia, 2014)
Overstock.com, Inc. v. Goldman Sachs & Co.
231 Cal. App. 4th 513 (California Court of Appeal, 2014)
Muwekma Ohlone Tribe v. Kenneth Salazar
708 F.3d 209 (D.C. Circuit, 2013)
Conservation Force v. Salazar
919 F. Supp. 2d 85 (District of Columbia, 2013)
Schwalier v. Panetta
839 F. Supp. 2d 75 (District of Columbia, 2012)
Nalco Co. v. United States Environmental Protection Agency
786 F. Supp. 2d 177 (District of Columbia, 2011)
Bean Dredging, LLC v. United States
773 F. Supp. 2d 63 (District of Columbia, 2011)
NetCoalition v. Securities & Exchange Commission
615 F.3d 525 (D.C. Circuit, 2010)
Iq Systems Inc. v. Aytes
District of Columbia, 2009

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
333 F.3d 239, 357 U.S. App. D.C. 118, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 13277, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/domestic-securities-inc-v-securities-exchange-commission-cadc-2003.