What the SEC's National Securities Exchanges List Actually Covers
The SEC page defines a national securities exchange by Section 6 registration and lists registered venues, notice-filing venues and exempt exchanges. It does not address crypto eligibility.
The page is a reference list, not a market-access guide. It defines a "national securities exchange" as a securities exchange that has registered with the SEC under Section 6 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and then presents exchanges registered under Section 6(a) of the Exchange Act as national securities exchanges. The definition comes first; the list follows from it.
For a reader trying to work out whether some venue or service falls under this label, the practical point is narrow: the page tells you which entities the SEC lists under that registration category. It does not tell you which platforms an individual account holder may use, which products a venue offers, or how any digital asset is treated.
The definition and the list line up
The source states the definition once, then introduces the roster with the same statutory anchor: exchanges registered under Section 6(a) of the Exchange Act as national securities exchanges. Both statements point to Section 6 registration, so a reader can treat the list as the SEC's rendering of that definition rather than as a separate or broader category.
What the list contains is names. Some entries carry current names with former names attached; others are parenthetical former-name notes that are not visibly attached to a current name on the page. That structural detail matters more than it first appears, because it affects how confidently a name can be matched to a venue.
Three tiers appear on the page, not one
The list is not a single uniform block. The page distinguishes registered exchanges, a smaller notice-filing group, and a separate exempt group. Reading it as one flat roster will misstate what the SEC has actually recorded for a given venue.
| Tier | How the page describes it | What it establishes |
|---|---|---|
| Registered national securities exchanges | Exchanges registered with the SEC under Section 6(a) of the Exchange Act | A registration category for the venue |
| Notice-filing exchanges | Certain exchanges are also registered with the SEC through a notice filing under Section 6(g) of the Exchange Act for the purpose of trading security futures | A separate filing route tied to security futures |
| Exempt exchanges | Two exchanges that the SEC has exempted from registration as national securities exchanges on the basis of a limited volume of transactions | Exemption, not registration |
The exempt tier is the easiest to misread. An exchange appearing in that discussion has not been registered as a national securities exchange; it has been exempted from that registration on a limited-volume basis. The page also notes that the Arizona Stock Exchange is no longer operating pursuant to an exemption from registration as a national securities exchange, which is a status statement about that venue rather than a statement about current operations.
Status language carries the real information
Several entries are qualified rather than presented as active registrations. The page lists One Chicago, LLC as formerly registered, and it shows a Release No. entry alongside that note without the citation being complete in the visible text. It also lists The Island Futures Exchange, LLC as formerly registered. These are historical status markers, and they should not be read as current registrations.
The security-futures notice-filing group works differently again. The page states that certain exchanges are also registered through a notice filing under Section 6(g) for the purpose of trading security futures. That is a registration route with a stated purpose, and the page does not attach product-level detail to it.
Identity is the hard part, not the list
Former-name notes are the main obstacle to matching a venue to a name. The page carries unlabeled former-name notes, including references to Bats BYX Exchange, Inc. and BATS Y-Exchange, Inc.; Bats BZX Exchange, Inc. and BATS Exchange, Inc.; Bats EDGA Exchange, Inc. and EDGA Exchange, Inc.; Bats EDGX Exchange, Inc. and EDGX Exchange, Inc.; NYSE Chicago, Inc. and Chicago Stock Exchange; and National Stock Exchange, Inc. Because those parentheticals are not visibly tied to a current name in the supplied text, a reader cannot confirm from this page alone which current listing each note belongs to.
Where current and former names do appear together, matching is straightforward. The page shows BOX Exchange LLC as formerly BOX Options Exchange LLC; Nasdaq ISE, LLC as formerly International Securities Exchange, LLC; Nasdaq PHLX LLC as formerly NASDAQ OMX PHLX, LLC and Philadelphia Stock Exchange; Nasdaq Texas, LLC as formerly Nasdaq BX, Inc., NASDAQ OMX BX, Inc. and Boston Stock Exchange; and NYSE American LLC as formerly NYSE MKT LLC, NYSE Amex, NYSE Alternet US and the American Stock Exchange.
A worked example of the matching problem, using only names from the page: Hypothetical — if you saw a reference to "BATS Y-Exchange, Inc." and needed to place it on the roster, the page shows that note but not the current name it attaches to, so the only defensible conclusion from this page is that the entity appears in an unlabeled former-name note, not that it maps to a specific current listing.
Why this matters for account and service questions
For readers checking platform availability or account conditions, this page answers a different question than the one usually being asked. It establishes registration status and naming history for listed venues. It does not address whether a given service is available in a particular state, what an account holder must provide, or how any asset class is treated.
The appropriate use is as a reference layer: confirm whether a named venue appears on the SEC's list, in which tier it appears, and whether the page marks it as current or formerly registered. Those are verifiable from the page. Anything beyond them requires a different source.
What the source does not say
- It does not establish that a listed venue offers any specific product beyond the security-futures purpose attached to the Section 6(g) notice-filing group.
- It does not provide crypto asset eligibility information; the page provides no crypto asset eligibility information.
- It does not resolve which current name each unlabeled former-name note belongs to.
- It does not state whether the formerly registered venues are operating today.
- It does not describe state-by-state availability or individual account requirements.
- It does not give a complete citation for the Release No. entry shown next to One Chicago, LLC.
The narrow takeaway: use the page to confirm registration category and naming history, and treat any conclusion about user eligibility or product availability as outside what it supports.
Sources
Informational only. Not financial, legal or investment advice. Check the primary sources listed above before you act on anything here.