An analysis of 4,410 exchange fee filings published in the Federal Register from 2017 through May 2026 reveals a dramatic acceleration in port and colocation fee activity beginning in 2023, driven by a broad bandwidth upgrade cycle across US equity exchange data centers. Port fee filings jumped from 10–23 per year in 2017–2022 to 75–126 per year in 2023–2024 — an 10× surge that tracks the rollout of 100 Gb connectivity options and associated repricing.
Cboe Group leads in total fee filings over the study period (1,303), followed by NYSE (1,129) and Nasdaq (937). When measured as a share of each exchange group's total filings, however, MIAX tops all major groups at 62.3% — meaning nearly two-thirds of every filing MIAX submits to the Federal Register is a fee change. MEMX follows at 63.9%, consistent with the new-entrant pattern of continuous fee schedule refinement as the exchange builds market share.
| Exchange Group | Total Fees | Port | Colo | Mkt Data | Routing | Listing | CAT | Other | % of All Filings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cboe | 1,303 | 122 | 45 | 58 | 38 | 21 | 91 | 928 | 49.5% |
| NYSE | 1,129 | 168 | 142 | 97 | 22 | 54 | 53 | 593 | 46.9% |
| Nasdaq | 937 | 38 | 135 | 46 | 68 | 32 | 64 | 554 | 38.7% |
| MIAX | 667 | 78 | 12 | 39 | 29 | 2 | 46 | 461 | 62.3% |
| BOX | 123 | 14 | 2 | 1 | 20 | 0 | 15 | 71 | 48.8% |
| MEMX | 117 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 8 | 0 | 13 | 81 | 63.9% |
| IEX | 90 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 16 | 3 | 16 | 45 | 42.5% |
| LTSE | 44 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 15 | 53.0% |
NYSE leads in port (168), colocation (142), market data (97), and listing (54) fee filings — consistent with its status as the largest equities listing venue and its Mahwah data center's comprehensive connectivity catalog. Nasdaq leads in routing/transaction fees (68), reflecting active maker-taker schedule management across Nasdaq, BX, Phlx, ISE, GEMX, and MRX.
The stacked bars show clear structural shifts. 2017 was characterized by Cboe's Bats acquisition integration — Cboe, NYSE, and Nasdaq filed nearly equal volumes. By 2024, Cboe surged to 211 fee filings, its highest single-year count, driven by aggressive connectivity repricing across its six equity exchanges (BZX, BYX, EDGA, EDGX, C2, and CBOE). NYSE's 2024 spike (153 filings) tracks the 100 Gb port rollout at its Mahwah and Chicago data centers.
| Year | Total | NYSE | Nasdaq | Cboe | MIAX | BOX | IEX | MEMX | LTSE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 441 | 112 | 130 | 131 | 36 | 18 | 14 | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | 395 | 98 | 135 | 113 | 26 | 14 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | 367 | 120 | 53 | 112 | 62 | 15 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | 415 | 161 | 50 | 115 | 55 | 14 | 7 | 6 | 7 |
| 2021 | 378 | 94 | 63 | 105 | 91 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 1 |
| 2022 | 364 | 90 | 70 | 93 | 71 | 8 | 4 | 27 | 1 |
| 2023 | 435 | 94 | 65 | 152 | 88 | 14 | 2 | 19 | 1 |
| 2024 | 689 | 153 | 164 | 211 | 97 | 14 | 10 | 33 | 7 |
| 2025 | 619 | 137 | 131 | 196 | 87 | 10 | 22 | 16 | 20 |
| 2026* | 307 | 70 | 76 | 75 | 54 | 7 | 10 | 8 | 7 |
* 2026 data through May 25, 2026 (partial year). MEMX and LTSE show 0 filings in 2017–2018 as both exchanges launched after the study period start (MEMX: September 2020; LTSE: August 2020).
The most striking trend in the data is the dramatic rise in port and colocation fee filings beginning in 2023. Port fee filings jumped from 23 in 2022 to 75 in 2023 and 126 in 2024. Colocation fee filings went from 6–11 in 2022–2023 to 117 in 2024 alone.
The acceleration tracks directly with the industry-wide rollout of 100 Gigabit port connectivity. NYSE, Nasdaq, and Cboe all introduced 100 Gb options at their respective data centers (Mahwah, Carteret/Ashburn, and Aurora/Secaucus) in the 2022–2023 timeframe, each requiring new fee schedule filings to establish pricing for the new tier — plus subsequent amendments as pricing was adjusted.
The colocation spike in 2024 reflects a parallel wave: as 100 Gb ports require different cabinet power density than 10 Gb setups, exchanges had to refile their colocation fee schedules to account for higher-power cabinet configurations, cross-connect pricing, and power surcharges for GPU-adjacent deployments in the same data center halls.
| Year | Total | Port | Colo | Mkt Data | Routing | Listing | CAT | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 441 | 11 | 20 | 22 | 28 | 20 | 55 | 285 |
| 2018 | 395 | 21 | 22 | 28 | 30 | 14 | 13 | 267 |
| 2019 | 367 | 10 | 33 | 16 | 19 | 20 | 1 | 268 |
| 2020 | 415 | 17 | 37 | 16 | 12 | 13 | 34 | 286 |
| 2021 | 378 | 23 | 20 | 14 | 6 | 9 | 20 | 286 |
| 2022 | 364 | 23 | 11 | 23 | 11 | 7 | 0 | 289 |
| 2023 | 435 | 75 | 6 | 16 | 16 | 12 | 0 | 310 |
| 2024 | 689 | 126 | 117 | 46 | 21 | 11 | 66 | 302 |
| 2025 | 619 | 119 | 36 | 62 | 36 | 5 | 68 | 293 |
| 2026* | 307 | 12 | 34 | 20 | 23 | 5 | 51 | 162 |
* 2026 partial year. Note CAT fee filings dropped to zero in 2022–2023, reflecting an impasse in the CAT operating committee's cost allocation methodology. CAT fee filings resumed sharply in 2024 (66) and 2025 (68) following the CAT NMS Plan amendment resolving the CAT cost recovery dispute.
NYSE Group (1,129 fee filings): The clear leader in port connectivity (168) and colocation (142) — far ahead of Nasdaq (38/135) and Cboe (122/45). This reflects the breadth of the NYSE data center catalog: Mahwah, NJ hosts NYSE, NYSE American, NYSE Arca, NYSE National, and NYSE Chicago's co-located participants, while Cboe and Nasdaq each operate fewer distinct venue-specific fee schedules from their data center locations.
Nasdaq Group (937 fee filings, 68 routing): Nasdaq leads all groups on routing/transaction fee filings by a wide margin, consistent with its maker-taker model management across six venues (Nasdaq, BX, Phlx, ISE, GEMX, MRX). Each venue maintains an independent fee schedule, and Nasdaq actively manages spread between maker credits and taker fees, resulting in frequent amendments.
Cboe Group (1,303 fee filings): Volume leader overall, driven by its six equity exchanges (BZX, BYX, EDGA, EDGX, C2, CBOE) each filing independently. Cboe also leads in CAT fee filings (91) — a consequence of its operating committee role in CAT governance and its historically aggressive stance on cost recovery.
MIAX Group (667 fee filings, 62.3% share): MIAX's high fee-filing share per total filing (62.3%) reflects its focus on options markets, where fee schedules are exceptionally complex: per-contract fees vary by customer type (customer, market maker, broker-dealer, firm), underlying category, and volume tier. A single fee schedule update can touch dozens of fee elements, requiring a separate filing per venue.
IEX (launched 2016 as exchange, in dataset from 2017) shows 42.5% fee-filing share — below average — consistent with its simpler pricing model (flat fee structure, no colocation). IEX files zero colocation fees, reflecting its intentional absence of a traditional co-location program in favor of its "point of presence" model and 350-microsecond speed bump.
MEMX (launched September 2020) shows 63.9% fee-filing share — the highest in our dataset — as a new entrant continuously refining its maker-taker and membership fee schedules to attract order flow. MEMX's 2022 spike (27 fee filings) coincides with its aggressive pricing campaigns to compete for Cboe BYX and NYSE National order flow.
Data source: Federal Register API (federalregister.gov/api/v1), filtered for SEC + "self-regulatory organizations," 2017-01-01 through 2026-05-25. This is Study 2 of 3 in our 19b-4 analysis series.
Fee definition: Filings classified as RULE_CHANGE are excluded. Fee filings are classified by title keyword matching into seven categories: Port (port fee/connectivity/VCC/physical port), Colocation (co-location/cabinet/rack/cross-connect), Market Data (data fee/ITCH/PITCH/OPRA), Routing (rebate/taker/transaction fee), Listing (listing fee/annual fee/issuer fee), CAT (CAT/consolidated audit trail), and Other Fee (generic fee keywords not matching above).
Exchange scope: NYSE Group, Nasdaq Group, Cboe Group, MIAX Group, BOX, IEX, MEMX, LTSE. Excludes FINRA, clearinghouses (OCC, NSCC, DTC, FICC), ICEEU, ICC, MSRB, LCH SA, NFA, and new entrants not yet operational (24X, TXSE).
Limitations: "Other Fee" (2,961 filings over the study) is a residual bucket for fee changes whose titles do not include category-specific keywords. These are predominantly general fee schedule amendments, membership fee changes, and Options Regulatory Fee (ORF) adjustments. The category classification is purely title-based; a detailed classification would require reading each filing's body text.