CASH FOR FLASH

IEX fee ‘discounts’

IEX, the “Flash Boys” exchange, used to hate paying for trades — but now, not so much.

The upstart exchange, whose chief executive Brad Katsuyama (pictured) famously claimed that the markets were “rigged,” announced late Thursday that IEX will lower fees for traders who put up certain stocks to trade on its exchange.

The practice, which IEX is calling a discount, looks very similar to a practice of offering rebates — or money back — for traders who put up stocks to trade on venues like the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, something that Katsuyama has called foul on in the past.

“Not offering rebates ... but fee discounts ...,” analyst Larry Tabb, who once opposed IEX’s status as an exchange but later softened his stance on the company, said on Twitter. “Not sure what the difference is.”

For its part, IEX says its plan gives traders a clear conscience.

“IEX is proud to offer a market making program that doesn’t introduce a conflict into the marketplace,” Eric Stockland, the exchange’s chief strategy officer, said in a statement.

IEX, which was made famous by financial journalist Michael Lewis, first came to prominence in 2014 in the best-seller, “Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt,” for its plan to slow down all trades on its system with a “speed bump,” in order to cut down on predatory trading from ultrafast brokers.

The new pricing scheme is the company’s latest attempt to make more money since its long and contentious road to getting government approval as a fully fledged stock exchange in 2016. Last year, an IEX salesman had said at an industry conference in North Carolina that the company was mulling charging customers for data feeds — something that Katsuyama had slammed rival exchanges for doing when they first came on the scene. IEX has also seen a rise in copycats, like the New York Stock Exchange, which have rolled out their own “speed bumps.”

Another exchange owned by asset managers also claims to be righting wrongs on Wall Street, too.

The new pricing plan lowers by 1 cent the price to trade stocks on IEX — now priced up to 9 cents per 100 shares, according to a company announcement.

IEX introduced a corporate listing business last year. The discount is tied to that venture.