Best Execution Outside-of-the-Inside Report Card
The Best Execution Outside-of-the-Inside (BE) report card is a monthly status report detailing the number of transactions reported to a FINRA Facility (i.e., a FINRA Trade Reporting Facility or FINRA's Alternative Display Facility) in which your firm participated that were executed Outside-of-the-Inside market in apparent violation of the Best Execution Rule. If non-compliance with the Best Execution Rule is found to exist, your firm may be found to be in violation of FINRA Rule 5310. Firms should make no inference, however, that FINRA staff has or has not determined that the information contained on the Best Execution Outside-of-the-Inside report cards does or does not constitute rule violations.
Report Glossary
The tables below provide a reference description for all of the elements found in the Best Execution Outside-of-the-Inside Report Card for the January 2010 time period and forward.
|
Term |
Definition |
|---|---|
| Headers on the Best Execution Outside-of-the-Inside report card | |
| Market Category | The Market Category identifies whether you are viewing the Best Execution Outside-of-the-Inside report card for the following types of securities:
|
| MPID | This is a Market Participant Identifier. |
| Month/Year | This identifies the Month and Year during which the transactions that you are viewing took place. The Best Execution Outside-of-the-Inside Report Card allows you to view certain of your firm's historical reports. |
| Sections of the Best Execution Outside-of-the-Inside Report Card | |
| All Time Intervals | This section of the report identifies transactions executed by your firm and reported to a FINRA FACILITY, alerts, etc during all respective time intervals considered by this exception report. This section will be available for each Market Category noted above. |
| Normal Market Hours | This section of the report identifies transactions executed by your firm and reported to a FINRA FACILITY, alerts, etc. during the time intervals of normal market hours only (usually Monday through Friday between 9:30 EST and 4:00 EST). This section of the report is available for Nasdaq, CQS, and NMS Market Categories only. |
| Pre-Open and After Market Hours | This section of the report identifies transactions executed by your firm and reported to a FINRA FACILITY, alerts, etc. that occur only during time intervals that are outside of normal market hours but that are also considered by this exception report. This section will be available for the following Market Categories only – Nasdaq, CQS, and NMS. |
| Informational Alerts | This section of the report identifies transactions involving your firm that were reported to a FINRA FACILITY but wherein your firm was not the executing party. This data is provided for informational purposes only. |
| Additional Definitions | |
| Total Transactions | This is the total number of transactions that were reported to a FINRA FACILITY in which the trade report indicates that there is at least one customer (or customer of another broker dealer), and that were executed:
|
| Total Alerts | This is the total number of Outside-of-the-Inside Best Execution Alerts that were generated by this exception report for transactions that were executed:
|
| Firm % of Alerts to Transactions | This is the percentage of your firm's Total Alerts to its Total Transactions:
|
| Peer Group or Tier | Each month, for every Market Category, the Report Card identifies four (4) Peer Groups or Tiers based upon each firm's respective number of Total Transactions, with:
The Report Card contains certain data for your respective Peer Group or Tier in an effort to provide some context to your firm's relative performance in the industry (Tier 6 firms do not receive industry or peer comparisons). |
| Industry Group | Each month, for every Market Category, the Report Card contains certain data for the Industry Group (e.g., all firms that executed at least 1 Total Transaction in the respective Market Category) in an effort to provide some context to your firm's relative performance in the industry. |
| Number in Population | This is the total number of MPIDs in the respective Peer Group/Tier or Industry Group population for the selected month and year. |
| Straight Average % | This is the sum of all of the Firm Alert Percentages among the MPIDs in your firm's respective Peer Group or respective Industry Group in the given time interval and Market Category, divided by the total number of MPIDs in your firm's respective Peer Group or respective Industry Group in the given time interval and Market Category (i.e., Straight Average % = (Sum of Firm Alert % for all firms in the respective Peer Group or Industry Group / Total Number of firms in the respective Peer Group or Industry Group) x 100). |
| Median % | This is the Firm % of Alerts to Total Transactions of the firm that is in the middle among the member firms in your firm's respective Peer Group or in the respective Industry Group in the given time interval. |
| Rank | This is the rank of your firm relative to other MPIDs in your respective Peer Group or in the respective Industry Group based on each MPID's respective Firm % of Alerts to Total Transactions for the selected Time Interval. The MPIDs are ranked in ascending order from the lowest percentage to the highest percentage. In other words, the firm with the lowest Firm % of Alerts to Total Transactions is ranked 1. If multiple firms have the same percentage, they all receive the same Rank. |
| Percentile | This is your firm's Percentile (PERC), relative to your firm's respective Peer Group or the respective Industry Group, for its Firm % of Alerts to Total Transactions in the given time interval. Once the firms are ranked, the percentile can be determined. (PERC = Number of Firms in the Peer Group or Industry population - RANK of Firm) / Number of Firms in respective Peer Group or Industry population) x 100). |
| Weighted Average % | This is the percentage of Total Alerts to Total Transactions among the MPIDs in your firm's respective Peer Group or respective Industry Group in the given time interval and Market Category (i.e., Weighted Average % = (Total Alerts for all firms in the respective Peer Group or Industry Group / Total Transactions for all firms in the respective Peer Group or Industry Group) x 100). |
| Contra Side Number (display only) | This is the number of Alerts involving your firm in which your firm was not the executing firm, but was the contra party in the trade report to the FINRA FACILITY, and a customer of your firm appears to have received a price that was inferior to the inside market at the respective execution time of the trade. These alerts are not assigned to your firm for statistical purposes, in any of the statistical portions of this Report Card. These numbers are provided for informational purposes only, and are not used to calculate any Best Execution Report Card ratios or rankings. |
NOTE: If you require glossary information on the format of the Best Execution Report Card prior to January 2010, please contact [email protected]
Detail Data
For executing firms, the Detail Data for the Best Execution Outside-of-the-Inside report card provides a list of transactions executed by your firm at prices to a customer (or a customer of another broker dealer) that were inferior, from such customer's perspective, to the inside market at the respective execution time of the trade. For contra firms, the Detail Data of this Report Card provides a list of transactions in which your firm was listed as the contra party and it is apparent that, at the respective time of execution, your customer (or the customer of another broker dealer that you represent) received a price that was inferior to the inside market. The data is the underlying detail of the alerts contained in the monthly Best Execution Outside-of-the-Inside Report Card.
The table below provides a reference description for all of the elements found in the Best Execution Outside-of-the-Inside Report Card Detail Data. Most of these elements come directly from the trade reports submitted to a FINRA Facility. There is additional information from other sources, such as quotation venues and the Order Audit Trail System ("OATS").
|
Term |
Definition |
Source |
|---|---|---|
| Execution Date | This is the date of execution. | Trade Report |
| P-MPID | This is the Primary MPID of your firm. | FINRA Records |
| MPID | This is the Market Participant Identifier of the firm that was responsible for trade reporting the transaction. | Trade Report |
| Reporting Capacity | This is the capacity of the firm that was responsible for trade reporting the transaction. Values are:
|
Trade Report |
| B/S | This is the Buy/Sell indicator of the firm responsible for trade reporting the transaction. Values are:
|
Trade Report |
| Quantity | This is the number of shares traded. | Trade Report |
| Issue Symbol | This is the symbol of the issue traded. | Trade Report |
| Price | This is the price of the trade. | Trade Report |
| Contra MPID | This is the capacity of the Contra MPID for a trade. Values are:
|
Trade Report |
| Report Time | This is the system time the trade was entered for Trade Reporting to the respective FINRA FACILITY. | Trade Report |
| Execution Time | This is the time of execution as reported by the firm responsible for Trade Reporting to the respective FINRA FACILITY. | Trade Report |
| Sale Condition 1 Code | This is a further classification of the trade with regard to settlement. It is most often referred to as a Trade Modifier. This modifier is entered by the firm responsible for trade reporting the transaction. Values are:
|
Trade Report |
| Sale Condition 2 Code | This is a further classification of a trade with regard to Regulation NMS Trade Through Exceptions and Exemptions. This modifier is entered by the firm responsible for trade reporting the transaction. Values are:
|
Trade Report |
| Sale Condition 3 Code | This is a further classification of a trade with regard to Extended Hours/Sequence. This modifier can either be entered by the firm responsible for trade reporting the transaction or appended by the system. Values are:
|
Trade Report |
| Sale Condition 4 Code | This is a further classification of a trade with regard to SRO Required Detail. This modifier can either be entered by the firm responsible for trade reporting the transaction or appended by the system. Values are:
|
Trade Report |
| Branch Sequence Number | This is the firm's internal order sequence number. | Trade Report |
| Rpt Memo | This is the alphanumeric message appended by the firm responsible for trade reporting the transaction. | Trade Report |
| Reporting Side Market Code | This is the field that indicates the market center to which the trade was reported. Values are:
|
Trade Report |
| Inside Bid at Execution | This is the highest published price at which a Trading Center(s) was willing to buy shares of the issue at the time the trade was executed. | Quote Report |
| Inside Ask at Execution | This is the lowest published price at which a Trading Center(s) was willing to sell shares of the issue at the time the trade was executed. | Quote Report |
| Weighted Average Inside Bid Size | This is the weighted average of the published number of shares at the respective inside bid price in existence for a period of time surrounding the execution time of the trade. | Quote Report |
| Weighted Average Inside Ask Size | This is the weighted average of the published number of shares at the respective inside ask price in existence for a period of time surrounding the execution time of the trade. | Quote Report |
| Firm Order ID | This is the unique order identifier input into OATS by your firm. | OATS Report matched to the Trade Report in which a customer order was executed at a price that was inferior to the inside mkt. |
| Order Received Date | This is the date that the order was received by your firm. | Order Report |
| Order Received Time | This is the time of day when the order was received by your firm. | OATS Report |
| Primary MPID | This is the Market Participant Identifier of the firm that received the order. | OATS Report |
| Order to Buy/Sell | This indicates the customer instruction to buy or to sell shares of a security. Values are:
|
OATS Report |
| Order Quantity | This is the size of the customer's order. | OATS Report |
| Order Type | This is the type of customer order as implied by the balance of the OATS entry. Values are:
|
OATS Report |
| Limit Order Price | This is the limit price entered by the customer for this order. It will not be populated if the customer did not place a limit price on the order. | OATS Report |
| Stop Order Price | This is the stop price entered by the customer for this order. It will not be populated if the customer did not place a stop price on the order. | OATS Report |
| Special Handling Code | This includes up to 5 special handling codes that were entered into OATS for this order. See OATS specifications for a complete list of the code values that might appear in this field as well as a brief description of the meanings of these codes. | OATS Report |
| TIF Code | This is the time-in-force for the order. Values are:
|
OATS Report |
| Routing Firm MPID | This is the Market Participant Identifier of the firm that routed the order for handling and execution. | OATS Report |
| Market Class | This is the market class in which the issue trades. Values are:
|
Trade Report |
| Alert Type Category | This code indicates whether the alert is assigned to your firm for purposes of the performance calculations or as an informational alert. Values are:
|
Exception Report |