Market participants face a $7,500 fee for Cboe clock sync

In Washington, Cboe BZX Exchange is putting a price on a service built for traders who care about timing. The exchange says its new Clock Service will no longer be free, and members and nonmembers alike will be able to subscribe to the optional product that synchronizes their own time-recording systems with the exchange’s clock. The Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, was notified through a filing submitted on May 28, 2026, which the exchange described as immediately effective.

That matters because the point of the service is not a flashy new feature, but a cleaner read on how fast orders and messages move between a firm and the exchange. For trading desks, compliance teams and operations staff, that kind of time match can help measure latency and spot where a system is slowing down.

The price of precision

Cboe BZX says the main fee for its Clock Service is $7,500 a month, and that price includes a 1-gigabit physical port used only for the service. The exchange also wants to charge $2,500 a month for a redundant connection, plus a one-time $5,000 setup fee for each physical connection that needs a High-Accuracy Timing IP Core license.

New subscribers would get the first 30 days free on the Clock Service fee itself, though the setup charge and any extra connections would still apply. The SEC published notice of the filing on June 12 and invited comments from interested persons.