A hard November deadline just slid a full year - and a bigger US question looms
Canada's securities regulators are hitting pause - delaying trading-rule changes for US inter-listed securities by a year, to November 1, 2027.
The Canadian Securities Administrators and the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization said on June 22, 2026 that they will hold off on final amendments to their access fee and tick-size rules, which had been set to take effect November 2, 2026.
For firms that trade stocks listed on both a Canadian exchange and a US exchange, the delay buys time. The CSA is putting off changes to National Instrument 23-101 Trading Rules and the related Companion Policy that deal with trading fee caps on those securities. CIRO is pausing matching changes to its Universal Market Integrity Rules that govern trading increments, the minimum amounts by which prices can move.
The two sets of amendments were always meant to move in step with the United States. The regulators designed them to harmonize Canadian trading increments and fee caps on inter-listed securities with corresponding rules adopted by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. When the SEC pushed its own effective date to November 1, 2027, the Canadian timetable followed. The one-year pause now lines up with that new US date.
The mechanics will vary by province. The CSA said the pause will be enacted by each jurisdiction - in Alberta and Ontario, for example, through a blanket order.
There is a second thread that wealth and investment professionals will want to watch. On June 11, 2026, the SEC proposed rescinding Rules 611 and 610(e) of Regulation NMS. Rule 611, commonly known as the order protection rule, contains the trade-through prohibition for national market system stocks; Rule 610(e) restricts locking and crossing quotations. The CSA said it will, in consultation with CIRO, consider any necessary action in response to that proposal. Any changes it weighs would follow normal CSA processes and be published for comment, the regulators said.
For now, the message to Canadian dealers and advisors is one of breathing room rather than reversal. The rules are not gone - they are postponed, and tied to a US framework that is itself in flux.
The full text of CSA and CIRO to delay implementation of final amendments to access fee and tick-size rules is available at https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/csa-and-ciro-to-delay-implementation-of-final-amendments-to-access-fee-and-tick-size-rules-893587095.html.
