MEMX Gains SEC Approval to Trade Options

U.S. Options Exchange MEMX Options to Launch in 2023 

JERSEY CITY, N.J.– August 9, 2022–MEMX, a market operator founded by a diverse group of participants to benefit all investors, today announced that the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has approved MEMX’s rule filing to launch a platform for trading listed options. The U.S. options exchange, MEMX Options, will leverage the strengths of MEMX’s data-centric exchange architecture and state-of- the-art infrastructure. The exchange will use a price time-model and is expected to launch in early 2023. 

“We’re pleased to have received SEC approval as we continue to prepare for our launch. We’re excited to build upon our successful track record of delivering value to market participants,” said MEMX CEO Jonathan Kellner. “MEMX Options will use technological advancements to increase determinism, reduce costs and drive competitive improvements for our options members, just as we did in equities.” 

“The creation of MEMX Options was driven by a desire to extend the vision of a member-aligned market to the options community. Over the past few months, we have had productive discussions with a wide range of participants to understand where we can add value to the options exchange landscape,” said Geralyn Endo, Member Experience for MEMX Options. “SEC approval of our exchange takes us one step closer to realizing the vision of an options exchange dedicated to advancing its members’ needs.” 

Since launching in the fall of 2020, MEMX has quickly grown to become the largest independent U.S. equities exchange and a significant source for liquidity in cash equities. MEMX is the only exchange founded to represent the needs of market participants and expanding into a new asset class will allow MEMX to provide meaningful benefits to a broader range of investors. 

MEMX has proposed a series of common-sense equity market structure proposals, such as round lot and tick size reform. Recently, the exchange unveiled significantly lower pricing for its market data products than comparable products at competing exchanges. MEMX will continue to use member feedback to help advance key issues in the U.S. equity and options markets. 

Source: MEMX