FINRA OTC Reporting Facility (ORF) Nanosecond Changes

As part of its Transparency Services improvement initiatives, beginning in December 2022, FINRA will re-platform the FINRA OTC Reporting Facility (ORF) to a new Linux-based operating system.¹ This update is in addition to the Trade Data Dissemination Service (TDDS) protocol changes FINRA previously announced.

ORF currently supports timestamps up to milliseconds. Effective December 5, 2022, ORF will support timestamps of up to nanosecond granularity (HH:MM:SS.sssssssss) on all inbound and corresponding outbound (reject and acknowledgement) trade capture report messages in accordance with amendments to FINRA’s equity trade reporting rules. Please refer to FINRA Regulatory Notice 20-41 for additional information on firms’ reporting obligations under these amendments.

The ORF FIX Specifications for Trade Reporting and the ORF TRAQS User Guide Specifications have been updated to reflect the new nanosecond timestamp formats.

In late summer 2022, FINRA will invite ORF clients to test the platform in the Nasdaq Test Facility (NTF), which includes the nanoseconds updates.  Please stay tuned for further communications from FINRA regarding the testing phase of the project. 

Please contact FINRA Product Management or call (866) 899-2107 with questions regarding this notice.

¹ ORF Trade reporting validations will remain as currently structured.