The Securities and Exchange Commission in 2015 issued an order approving a plan to implement a Tick Size Pilot by the exchanges and FINRA. The Order approved the Pilot for a two-year period beginning October 2016, and it introduced a new quoting and trading rules for smaller public companies that were included in one of three Test Groups created by the Pilot. The Equity Markets Association believes the Pilot is a first step toward assessing whether liquidity in smaller companies can be enhanced.