How Long Are Dark Pool Trades Delayed?

According to FINRA’s reporting requirements for dark pools, trades executed between 8:00 am and 8:00 pm EST must be reported within 10 seconds of being executed.

Trades executed between 8:00 pm and 8:00 am EST have until 8:15 am the following day to be reported.

An important caveat is that a trade is not considered “executed” until the order is filled in its entirety.

Due to the inherently large nature of trades made on dark pools, it may be several hours until the trade is fully filled and reported to FINRA.

If the trade is filled outside market hours, the reporting can be delayed even further. In some cases, it may be up to 24 hours before a trade is made public.

To add to the delay, institutional investors found a loophole by executing trades on European dark pools to get around reporting them right away.

Trades executed on European dark pools may not be reported until hours later or the next trading day.