WHO CAN QUALIFY AS NON-PROFESSIONAL SUBSCRIBER?
A Non-professional Subscriber is any natural person* whom a market data vendor has determined qualifies as a “Nonprofessional Subscriber” and who is NOT:
(a)registered or qualified with: the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, any state securities agency, any securities exchange or association, or any commodities or futures contract market or association, nor
(b) engaged as an “investment advisor” as that term is defined in Section 201(11) of the Investment Advisor’s Act of 1940 (whether or not registered or qualified under that Act), nor
(c) employed by a bank or another organization that is exempt from registration under Federal and/or state securities laws to perform functions that would require him or her to be so registered or qualified if he or she were to perform such functions for an organization not so exempt.
WHO WOULD QUALIFY AS A PROFESSIONAL SUBSCRIBER?
Any person or entity who does meet the above criteria (a,b, & c) is considered a Professional Subscriber. For a natural person who works outside of the United States but performs the same functions as someone who would be considered a “Professional” in the United States, that person would be deemd a “Professional”. Please note that an entity such as corporation or group structure is not by definition a “natural person.” A natural person determination is also dependend on whether the trading is conducted in an Individual, Joint or UTMA or IRA account.
Although the different exchanges may have slight variation on the rule they all agree to the basis definition outline above.
NYSE: https://www.nyse.com/publicdocs/nyse/data/Policy-Non-ProfessionalSubscribers_PDP.pdf
Nasdaq: https://nasdaqtrader.com/content/AdministrationSupport/AgreementsData/subagreemstandalone.pdf
In order to qualify as a non-professional subscriber, the subscriber usage would need to be TRUE for question A of the DAS Disclaimer questionnaire and FALSE for all subsequent questions.
- You use market data for personal, non-business use.
- Your account is opened as a business or other entity.
- You are currently registered with the SEC.
- You are currently qualified with the CFTC.
- You are currently registered or qualified with any securities agency, any securities exchange, association or regulatory body or any commodities or futures contract market, association or regulatory body in the United States.
- If you are located within or outside of the United States, you perform any functions that are similar to those that require an individual to register or qualify with the SEC, the CFTC, any other securities agency, any other securities exchange, or association or regulatory body, or any commodities or futures contract market, or association or regulatory body.
- You are engaged to provide investment advice to any individual or entity.
- You are engaged as an asset manager.
- You use the capital of any other individual or entity in the conduct of your trading.
- You entered into any agreement to share the profit of your trading activities or receive compensation for your trading activities.
- You receive office space and equipment or other benefits in exchange for your trading work as a financial consultant to any person, firm or business entity.
- You conduct trading in an account for the benefit of a corporation, partnership, LLC, tax-exempt organization, trust or other entity.
