OATS Report - April 12, 2002

April 12, 2002

NASDR delayed the implementation of the new "Bunched Order Indicator," which was originally scheduled for inclusion in the April 8, 2002 Order Audit Trail System (OATS) Release. Members will be notified of a later rollout date. The field will remain in the code and is labeled as "Reserved for Future Use" in the OATS Reporting Technical Specifications. When released, a "Y" indicator will be required on the OATS New Order Report, Cancel/Replace Report, and/or the Combined Order/Execution Report, if the order event comprises two or more orders bunched together. This delay does not affect the existing requirement to provide a bunched order indicator in the OATS Routing Report.

It is important to note that if a firm has already coded for the Bunched Order Indicator in anticipation of the April 8 release, it may populate the field with "Y" at this time or may leave it blank. However, if more than one character is populated in the field, the ROE will reject and the resulting "reject reason" will be: "Additional field not specified for this ROE."

If a firm has not yet coded in the Bunched Order Indicator, it is not necessary to do so at this time. If the field is not populated or no effort is made to code for this extra field, the ROE will still be accepted at this time. Therefore, a firm may exercise discretion regarding whether or not to code for it at this time. If you have any questions, comments, and/or concerns regarding this subject or regarding OATS in general, please contact the OATS Business Help Desk at (800) 321-NASD.