Brokerage Platform exchange code df

**Bottom line:** On most U.S. brokerage platforms the two-letter venue tag **“DF” means the trade was printed to FINRA’s Alternative Display Facility (ADF)**—in other words, the order was executed *off* an exchange (often inside a broker-dealer’s internal system or a dark pool) and then reported to FINRA for public tape dissemination. 🕵️‍♂️✨ --- ### What “DF” actually tells you | Code | Full name | What it really represents | Why you see it | |------|-----------|---------------------------|----------------| | DF | FINRA ADF (Alternative Display Facility) | An off-exchange reporting facility run by FINRA. Trades routed to internalizers, wholesalers, or dark pools are reported here instead of NYSE / Nasdaq. | Your broker must publish every execution to the consolidated tape; “DF” is the label that shows it wasn’t matched on a lit exchange. | ### Key take-aways 1. **Not an exchange, but a reporting venue.** ADF merely records the trade; price discovery occurred elsewhere. 2. **Often linked to wholesalers/dark pools.** Retail market makers like Citadel, Virtu, Jane Street, etc., internalize the order flow they buy from brokerages. Those executions get stamped “DF”. 3. **Reg-compliant transparency.** FINRA Rule 6275 requires off-exchange prints to be timestamped and published to the tape within seconds. That’s why you still see volume and last-sale data even though no exchange matched the order. 4. **Impact on you.** • Price and size remain valid for time-and-sales and VWAP calculations. • Depth-of-book quotes (Level II) won’t show these orders beforehand because the execution wasn’t posted to a lit order book. • No special tax or settlement difference—T+1 (or T+2 pre-2024) like ordinary exchange trades. ### When “DF” matters • **Liquidity analysis**: A high share of DF prints suggests a name trades heavily in dark pools—useful if you rely on lit-exchange depth for entries/exits. • **Price slippage checks**: Compare your fill vs. NBBO at the time of execution. “DF” prints should still comply with the best displayed price (Reg NMS Rule 611). • **Routing preferences**: Some active traders ask their broker to route directly to exchanges (IEX, ARCA, etc.) to avoid potential fill latency in internalizers. --- 📝 If you notice abnormally large “DF” blocks or want help interpreting off-exchange volume vs. lit markets for a particular stock, just let me know!