what is nyse arca 
nyse arca is an electronic securities exchange in the u s on which exchange traded products etps and equities are listed the exchange specializes in etp listings which include exchange traded funds etfs exchange traded notes etns and exchange traded vehicles etvs in addition to placing typical orders nyse arca allows investors and traders to participate in opening and closing auctions in etfs and place midpoint orders that sit between the bid and ask price understanding nyse arcanyse arca is the world s leading etf exchange in terms of volume and listings as of january 2024 the exchange held a commanding 16 5 of the etf market share of exchange volume and listed 62 9 of the 3 380 total etfs in the united states 3with nyse it controls 75 of the 8 1 trillion in total assets under management aum of exchange traded products etps nyse arca also offers the narrowest bid ask spreads and quotes the most time at the best price across all u s etps much like other electronic communications networks ecns nyse arca implements a liquidity fee rebate program to improve overall market depth for example market makers mms are charged a fee to remove liquidity and provided with a rebate for adding it fees and rebates typically hover around 0 003 per share 4nyse arca membershipnyse arca offers three levels of exchange membership for financial firms that want to engage in market making practices on the ecn standard market making requires that members actively maintain a two sided market at all times in the names that they make markets in lead market makers lmms are the primary designated market makers in a given name and are held to more stringent standards and margin requirements the third status etp holder is a financial institution that does not wish to make markets but does want to use the exchange for order routing of exchange traded products for its books or on behalf of its brokerage clients 5as of january 2024 nyse arca membership consists of around 135 member firms 6nyse arca optionsin addition to offering a wide breadth of exchange traded products and other equities the platform also matches orders and allows for crosses of listed options in conjunction with nyse american formerly amex and an open outcry trading floor in san francisco california nyse arca options runs a model similar to its equities and etp using a liquidity focused market maker taker model 7nyse arca and cryptocurrency listed fundsin late 2017 nyse arca submitted an application to the securities and exchange commission sec to list two etfs that track bitcoin futures contracts traded on the cboe options exchange and the chicago mercantile exchange cme the proshares bitcoin etf and the proshares short bitcoin etf 8while the sec has traditionally been reluctant to approve bitcoin etfs due to the cryptocurrency s speculative and unregulated nature in october 2021 trading began on the very first bitcoin etf the proshares bitcoin strategy etf bito 9the sec may have been more receptive to this particular crypto etf because the fund does not invest directly in bitcoin and instead tracks cme bitcoin futures the contracts that speculate on the future price of bitcoin in january 2024 the sec took further steps to allow for bitcoin etf trading by approving 11 spot bitcoin etfs listed on nyse arca cboe bzx and nasdaq 10on may 23 2024 the sec approved nyse cboe and nasdaq applications to list spot ether etfs this is an important step towards the likely offering of spot ether etfs on us exchanges the issuers will also have to get approval before these types of products are eventually listed 11nyse arca historynyse arca was formed in 2006 after the nyse merged with archipelago a leading electronic exchange network created in 1996 archipelago was one of the first ecns to facilitate electronic trading on major u s exchanges such as the nasdaq and american stock exchange amex through the archipelago exchange arcaex ecns allow for automated trading passive order matching after hours trading and instantaneous order execution 12by the mid 2000s archipelago s fast execution speeds and liquidity pools attracted widespread usage from institutional trading firms critics of the merger suggested it would end floor trading that has been in place since the nyse s inception in 1817 however large cap stocks continue to be traded on the nyse using the open outcry method 1314in 2007 nyse completed a merger with euronext the largest european stock exchange which led to the creation of nyse euronext this entity was later acquired by intercontinental exchange ice which became the parent of the nyse arca 1516