Core terms
FINRA Trading Activity Fee (TAF)
A FINRA regulatory fee charged per share on sales of covered equity securities, with a maximum per trade. Brokers usually pass it through on each sell.
As of 2026-10-05, FINRA has paused the TAF, setting it to $0.00 for transactions from 2026-10-01 through 2026-12-31 (SR-FINRA-2026-021). From 2027-01-01 it is scheduled to resume at $0.000195 per share sold, with a maximum of $9.79 per trade (SR-FINRA-2026-021, Schedule A to the FINRA By-Laws).
At the scheduled rate, a sale of 2,000 shares carries $0.39 of TAF, and the per-trade maximum applies from roughly 50,200 shares (computed from the scheduled 2027 rate, Illustrative). Like the Section 31 fee, the TAF applies to sales, not purchases; unlike it, it scales with share count rather than dollar value.
What traders should verify
Keep the TAF as its own worksheet line, with shares × rate and the per-trade cap, and record which rate period a trade falls in. Cost estimates for 2027 use the scheduled rate rather than the temporary $0.00.
Do not conflate
The pause is temporary and the rate is set by FINRA rule filings that can change it; check FINRA's current schedule. Brokers differ in how they round and display the pass-through.
Primary source
Primary sourceFINRA, SR-FINRA-2026-021